V 


it 


POSSIBILITY 


^>r 


APPROACHING  THE  NORTH  POLE 

ASSERTED. 

BY 

THE  nOX.  DrBARRIXGTOX. 

A  NEW  EDITION. 

WITH 

AN  APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING 

PAPERS  ON   THE  SAME  SUBJECT. 

AND    ON 


COLOJ^EL   BEJiUFOr,    F.  R.  S. 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH    A    MAP  OF    THE    NORTH    POLE,    ACCORDIXG 
TO    THE    LATEST    DISCOVERIES. 


jf^cUi'Worft; 


PUBLISHED  BY  JAMES  EASTBURN  Sr  CO. 
AT   THE    LITERARY   ROOMS,    BROADWAY,    CORNER    OF    PINE-STREET. 

ABRAHAM    PAUL,    PRINTER. 

1818. 


PKEFACE. 


^'V^'^^^ 


i  HE  interesting  nature  of  the  subject  to  which  the 
following  Papers  relate,  would,  at  any  time,  justify 
their  republication ;  but  at  the  present  moment  they 
derive  an  additional  value  from  the  expedition  which 
is  now  preparing  to  explore  the  Arctic  Regions. 
Whether  the  extended  boundaries  of  geographical 
science,  aided  by  the  local  information  which  it  is 
said  has  been  communicated  by  those  who  are  em- 
ployed in  the  Greenland  Fisheries,  will  secure  the 
success  of  this  enterprise,  it  is  impossible  to  antici- 
pate ;  but,  as  Englishmen,  we  must  naturally  wish, 
that  discoveries,  which  were  first  attempted  by  the 
adventurous,  spirit  and  maritime  skill  of  our  country- 
men, should  be  finally  achieved  by  the  same  means. 

As  early  as  the  year  1527,  the  idea  of  a  passage  to 
the  East  Indies  by  the  North  Pole  was  suggested  by 
a  Bristol  Merchant  to  Henry  VIII;  but  no  voyage 
seems  to  have  been  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of 


JV  PREFACE. 

navigating  the  Circumpolar  Seas  till  the  commence- 
ment of  the  following  century,  when,  in  1607,  an  ex- 
pedition was  fitted  out,  at  the  expense  of  certain  Mer- 
chants of  London.  To  this  attempt  several  others 
succeeded  at  different  periods,  and  all  of  them  were 
projected  and  carried  into  execution  by  private  indi- 
viduals. The  adventurers  did  not  indeed  accomplish 
the  object  they  exclusively  sought,  that  of  reaching 
India  by  a  nearer  route  than  doubling  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  but  though  they  failed  in  that  respect, 
the  fortitude,  perseverance,  and  skill  which  they  mani- 
fested, exhibited  the  most  irrefragable  proofs  of  the 
early  existence  of  that  superiority  in  naval  affairs, 
which  has  progressively  elevated  this  country  to  her 
present  eminence  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 

At  length,  after  the  lapse  of  above  a  century  and  a 
half,  this  interesting  question  became  an  object  of 
royal  patronage,  and  the  expedition  which  was  com- 
manded by  Captain  Phipps,  afterward  Lord  Mul- 
grave,  in  1773,  was  fitted  out  at  the  charge  of  Go- 
vernment. It  will  add  to  the  value  of  the  following 
pages  when  it  is  known,  that  the  author  of  them  was 
the  first  proposer  of  this  memorable  voyage ;  and  that 
in  consequence  of  his  representations,  as  to  the  prac- 
ticability of  circumnavigating  the  Pole,  the  Royal  So- 
ciety made  their  application  to  Lord  Sandwich,  then 
at  the  head   of   the  Admiralty,    which  led  to  the 


PREFACE. 


appointment  of  the  expedition  for  exploring  those 
regions. 

Though  Captain  Phipps  found  it  impossible  to  pene- 
trate the  wall  of  ice,  which  extended  for  more  than 
twenty  degrees  between  the  latitudes  of  80''  and  SI**, 
the  opinions  of  Mr.  Barrington  upon  the  possibility 
of  proceeding  farther,  under  different  circumstances, 
remained  unshaken.  With  indefatigable  assiduity 
thereibre  he  began  to  collect  every  fact  connected 
with  the  subject;  and  as  he  accumulated  his  mate- 
rials he  read  them  to  the  Royal  Society.  This  mass 
of  written,  traditionary,  and  conjectural  evidence,  he 
afterward  published,  in  the  year  1775;  and  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  its  republication  at  the  present  moment 
is  at  least  appropriate,  independently  of  the  intrinsic 
value  which  must  always  attach  to  the  researches  of 
so  acute  and  ardent  an  inquirer. 

The  Publishers,  however,  are  happy  in  being  per- 
mitted to  add  to  the  value  of  these  Tracts,  by  subjoin- 
ing, as  an  Appendix,  some  Papers  upon  the  same 
subject  by  Colonel  Beaufoy,  F.  R.  S.  The  attention 
of  that  gentleman  was  turned  to  the  practicability  of 
reaching  the  North  Pole,  from  Spitzbergen,  during 
winter,  by  travelling  over  the  ice  and  snow  in  sledges 
drawn  by  rein  deer.  He  therefore  transmitted  vari- 
ous queries,  to  which  he  received  answers  from  Rus- 


VI  PREFACE. 

sians  who  had  wintered  in  those  remote  islands.  The 
information  thus  elicited  is  exceedingly  curious,  and 
much  of  it  may  be  most  advantageously  employed  by 
those  who  are  about  to  brave  the  dangers  and  incle- 
mencies of  that  dreary  climate. 

In  order  to  render  the  present  volume  as  complete 
as  possible,  an  entirely  new  Map  of  the  North  Pole 
is  prefixed,  drawn  from  the  best  authorities,  and  with 
the  Pole  in  the  centre,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  utmost  de- 
gree of  latitude  which  has  hitherto  been  approached. 
Under  all  these  circumstances,  it  is  hoped  the  Work 
will  find  a  favourable  reception.  Its  claims,  indeed, 
are  of  no  dubious  nature ;  for  it  is  the  production  of 
persons  eminent  for  their  scientific  attainments.  Sub- 
sequent discoveries  can  alone  impair  its  value.  Till 
the  ardour  of  well-directed  enterprise  shall  disclose 
what  yet  remains  unexplored,  the  exposition  of  our 
actual  knowledge,  and  the  speculative  deductions  of 
enlightened  theory,  cannot  be  unacceptable  to  the 
lovers  of  geographical  research. 

March  I.IHIK 


I 


PREFACE 


THE  FOLAU  TRACTS. 


HONOURABLE  DAINES  BARRINGTON. 


The  following  Tracts,  relative  to  the  possibility  of 
near  approaches  to  the  Pole  of  our  own  hemisphere, 
as  likewise  of  a  communication  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans  in  any  Northern  direction,  were 
first  published  in  1775  and  1776. 

I  now  think  it  right  again  to  print  them,  because 
they  contain  many  w  ell  attested  facts  with  regard  to 
reaching  high  Northern  Latitudes,  which  are  not  to 
be  found  elsewhere,  and  have  a  tendency  to  promote 
geographical  discoveries.  I  am  very  ready  to  admit, 
indeed,  that  the  purposes  of  commerce  can  never  be 
answered  by  the  great  uncertainty  of  a  constant  pas- 
sage (even  when  such  communication  is  discovered) 
in  seas  which  are  so  frequently  obstructed  by  the  ice 
packing  in  vast  fields.  I  find  likewise,  that  since  the 
Resolution  and  Endeavour  returned  from  their  last 
voyage,  many  conceive  a  North  East  or  North  West 
Passage  to  be  impracticable,  because. our  ships,  in 


Vlll  PREFACE  TO  THE 

two  successive  years,  were  not  able  to  penetrate  be- 
yond 71°,  by  impediments  of  ice.  Besides,  however, 
that  the  ice  packing  in  particular  situations  varies 
often  in  different  years,  both  these  attempts  were 
made  in  the  month  of  August,  which  I  flatter  myself  to 
have  proved,  is  the  very  season  of  the  year  when  the 
ice,  breaking  up  on  the  coast,  is  floating  in  every 
direction,  and  consequently  often  packs  in  masses 
of  an  immense  extent. 

These  vast  fields  of  ice,  indeed,  often  are  dispersed; 
but  who  hath,  or  indeed  should  have,  the  fortitude  of 
waiting  for  this  accident,  whilst  he  is  already  in  a  high 
Northern  Latitude,  and  the  winter  is  fast  approach- 
ing ?  If  the  ice,  however,  should  thus  pack  in  April 
or  May,  (which  I  conceive  it  would  not,  as  little  must 
be  left  to  float  from  the  preceding  summer,)  yet  as  the 
warm  weather  is  then  increasing  from  day  to  day,  the 
navigator  would  wait  with  some  degree  of  patience 
till  his  ship  may  be  released  from  this  temporary  ob- 
struction. The  situation  of  the  discoverer,  under 
these  circumstances,  may  be  compared  to  a  traveller 
passing  over  a  large  tract  of  sea  sand,  when  the  tide 
is  flowing  or  ebbing.  In  the  first  instance  he  spurs 
his  horse,  because  the  sea  may  be  expected  at  his 
heels;  in  the  latter  he  proceeds  with  great  compo- 
sure, as  every  instant  he  loses  in  point  of  time  the  sea 
is  farther  removed. 

Others  again  have  despaired  of  a  Northwest  Pas- 
sage, from  Captain  Pickersgill  not  having  succeed- 
ed in  his  attempt  for  this  purpose  during  the  year 
1776.* 

'^'  la  the  Lion  armed  brig. 


foLar  tracts.  It 

This  voyage  was  intended  for  two  purposes  (at 
least  as  I  have  been  informed  ;)  the  first  to  protect 
some  of  our  whale  fishers  on  the  coast  of  West  Green- 
land from  the  Americans  then  in  rebellion;  and  the 
second  (if  the  time  after  this  service  permitted)  to 
join  Captain  Cook,  should  he  have  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  accomplished  his  passage  from  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  wlien  he  would  probably  have  returned  to 
England  by  Davis's  Straits. 

This  plan  seems  to  have  been  very  well  laid,  but 
that  persevering  navigator  was  delayed  at  the  Cape 
by  Captain  Clark's  ship  not  arriving  till  a  considera- 
ble time  time  after  his  own  reaching  that  place  of  ren- 
dezvous, and  in  the  farther  progress  of  his  voyage  by 
adverse  winds,  which  drove  liim  to  the  Friendly  Isl- 
ands instead  of  Otahcite,  so  that  he  did  not  make  his 
attempt  of  a  passage  till  1777. 

Captain  Pickersgill  did  not  leave  Scilly  till  the  10th 
of  June,  1776,  and  consequently,  whatever  obstruc- 
tions he  met  with  from  floating  or  packing  ice,  might 
be  reasonably  expected  when  he  readied  the  coast  of 
West  Greenland.  It  appears,  however,  by  what  I 
shall  copy  from  the  conclusion  of  his  Journal  on  the 
31st  of  August,  that  he  did  not  find  these  to  be  consi- 
derable, and  that  after  the  trial  his  hopes  of  a  pas- 
sage were  very  sanguine. 

"I  shall  conclude  with  a  few  observations  on  this 
part  of  the  world,  (sc.  Greenland)  and  so  terribly  re- 
presented by  people,  who,  in  order  to  raise  their  own 
merit,  make  dangers  and  difficulties  of  common  occur- 
rences, merely  because  the  places  are  unknown,  and 
there  is  little  or  no  probability  of  their  being  ever 

2 


X  PREFACE  TO  THE 

contradicted.  I  do  not  mean  this  as  a  personal  reflec- 
tion ;  but  having  discoursed  with  many  of  the  masters 
of  Greenland  vessels,  as  well  as  their  employers,  and 
heard  such  dreadful  stories  of  those  countries,  I  can- 
not help  remarking  it  as  tending  to  mislead  those  w^ho, 
from  a  laudable  principle,  would  be  benefactors  to 
their  country,  but  are  deterred  from  it  by  these  mis- 
representations. I  shall  communicate  observations  on 
the  ice,  the  atmosphere,  the  land  of  Forbislier,  and 
the  probability  of  a  JS'orthwcst  Passage,  in  a  short  time.''^* 

This,  however,  hath  unfortunately  been  prevented 
by  Captain  PickersgilPs  death;  but  the  Astronomer 
Royal,  who  communicated  Captain  PickersgilPs  Jour- 
nal to  the  Royal  Society,  hath  informed  me  by  letter, 
"  That  he  had  often  heard  this  navigator  express 
himself  as  well  assured  of  a  Northwest  Passage; 
adding,  that*  he  received  accounts  of  it  from  the 
inhabitants  on  the  side  of  Davis's  Straits,  and  that  it 
was  directly  Northwest,  very  different  from  Baffin's 
track. 

"  Captain  Pickersgill  likewise  thought,  that  the  best 
method  to  find  the  passage  was  to  get  out  early ^  before  the 
ice  broke  away  in  the  upper  part  of  Davis^s  Straits^ 

It  thus  appears,  that  the  last  attempts  of  a  North- 
west Passage  ended  with  the  officer's  employed 
thereon  being  thoroughly  persuaded,  that  it  was  not 
only  practicable,  but  highly  probable. 

As  the  late  geographical  discoveries  have  given 
such  general  satisfaction,  I  have  little  doubt  but  that 
they  will  be  farther  prosecuted  when  a  peace  takes 

*  Phil.  Trans,  for  1778,  part  ii.  p.  1063. 


POLAR  TRACTS.  XI 

place,  and  shall  therefore  here  venture  to  throw  out 
my  poor  thoughts  with  regard  to  the  yet  remaining 
desiderata  for  the  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
planet  which  we  inhabit.  When  we  are  informed  by 
proper  trials,  that  the  attempt  in  any  particular  direc- 
tion cannot  succeed,  we  shall  then  be  as  much  at  rest 
as  with  regard  to  Lunar  oceans  or  continents,  if  such 
there  be. 

I  have  mentioned  in  the  following  Tracts,  that  the 
Parliamentary  rewards  given  for  approaching  within 
one  degree  of  the  North  Pole  are  not  likely  to  pro- 
duce the  efTects  intended,  because  the  Greenland 
whale  ships  are  all  ensured  ;  if  they  were  therefore  to 
go  beyond  the  common  fishing  latitudes,  it  would  be 
such  a  departure  from  the  voyage  ensured,  that  they 
would  not  be  able  to  recover,  if  accidents  happened 
in  such  a  deviation. 

I  am  informed,  however,  that  there  are  some  vessels 
employed  in  time  of  peace  by  government,  to  prevent 
smuggling  on  the  Northern  Coast  of  Scotland.  These 
ships  might  be  instructed,  when,  a  promising  wind 
blows  from  the  Southward,  to  proceed  as  far  North 
as  the  ice  will  permit.  The  crew  of  such  a  ship  would 
be  encouraged  by  expectations  of  the  Parliamentary 
reward;  and  though  one  attempt  might  fiil,  another 
might  succeed.  The  expense  to  the  public  would  be 
trifling,  whilst  the  smugglers  would  not  know  how 
soon  the  ship  might  return  to  its  station. 

Our  Commodore  upon  the  Newtbundland  stntion 
might  also  send  a  vessel  at  a  small  expense,  to  exyjlore 
all  the  Northern  part  of  Hudson's  Bay,  with  which  we 
are  so  imperfectly  acquainted  at  present. 


Xll  PREFACE  TO  THE 

Such  attempts  during  peace  might  take  place  al- 
most every  summer;  and  I  should  suppose  that  this 
scientific  and  opulent  nation  would  never  hesitate 
(whilst  there  is  the  least  dawning  of  hopes)  to  send 
proper  vessels  occasionally  to  make  farther  trials 
both  of  a  Northwest  Passage  by  Baflin's  Bay,  and  a 
Northeast  beyond  Nova  Zembla. 

The  coast  of  Corea,  the  Northern  part  of  Japan, 
and  the  Lequieux  Islands,  should  also  be  explored ; 
the  cheapest,  and  perhaps  the  best,  method  of  doing 
this,  would  be  to  employ  a  vessel  in  the  India  Com- 
pany's service,  which  might  be  victualled  at  Canton. 

Thus  much  with  regard  to  discoveries,  or  better 
knowledge  of  the  more  unfrequented  parts  of  the 
Northern  Hemisphere. 

The  desiderata  in  that  of  the  South  seem  to  be  the 
following : — 

To  make  the  complete  circumnavigation  of  New 
Holland,  so  as  at  least  to  be  better  acquainted  with 
some  parts  of  the  coast  of  this  immense  island ,  a  ves- 
sel for  this  purpose  might  be  victualled  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  or  Canton :  nor  is  the  voyage  a  dis- 
tant one,  when  compared  with  those  of  Captain  Cook. 
New  Guinea  also  should  be  better  explored. 

We  scarcely  know  more  of  the  islands  of  Tristan 
da  Cunha  than  their  Longitude  and  Latitude ;  but 
their  interior  parts  should  be  examined.  Not  vastly 
distant  is  Sandwich  Land,  which  many  on  board  Cap- 
tain Cook  supposed  to  be  a  vast  continent.  It  may 
be  objected,  indeed,  that  if  it  is  so,  it  will  turn  out  to 
be  a  continent  of  ice  and  snow ;  I  am  not  here,  how- 
ever, recommending  discoveries  for  the  purpose  of 


^ 


POLAR  TRACTS,  Xlll 

commerce,  but  for  the  improvement  of  geogra- 
phy. 

I  should  conceive,  that  a  voyage  either  from  the 
Cape  or  Brazil  would  easily  give  opportunity  of  effec- 
tuating both  tliese  purposes. 

Perhaps,  whilst  discoveries  by  sea  are  thus  dwelt 
upon,  e'lcouragement  should  be  given  to  travellers  by 
land,  for  procuring  better  information  with  regard  to  the 
central  parts  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  In  short, 
let  us  endeavour  to  know  as  much  as  we  may  of  our 
globe ;  nor  should  this  be  considered  as  a  vain  and 
trifling  curiosity,  though  no  benetits  to  commerce  may 
result  from  these  inquiries. 


INSTANCES  OF  NAVIGATORS 


WHO  HAVE  REACHED 


HIGH  NORTHERN  LATITUDES. 


Read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Royal  Society, 
MAY  19,  1774. 

— -^^^ 

As  I  was  the  unworthy  proposer  of  the  Voyao;e  to- 
wards the  North  Pole,  which  the  Council  of  the  Royal 
Society  recommended  to  the  Board  of  Admiralty,  I 
think  it  my  duty  to  lay  before  the  Society  such  intel- 
ligence as  I  have  happened  to  procure  with  regard  to 
navigators  having  reached  high  Northern  Latitudes  ;* 
because  some  of  these  accounts  seem  to  promise,  that 
we  may  proceed  farther  towards  the  Pole  than  the 
very  able  Officers,  who  were  sent  on  this  destination 
last  year,  were  permitted  to  penetrate,  notwithstand- 
ing their  repeated  efforts  to  pass  beyond  eighty  de- 
grees and  a  half. 

*  It  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  sach  accounts  in  print, 
hut  to  these  I  need  not  refer  the  Society. 


16  ON  APPROACHING 

I  shall  begin,  however,  by  making  an  observation 
or  two  with  regard  to  the  Greenland  Fishery,  which 
will  in  a  great  measure  account  for  our  not  being  able 
to  procure  many  instances  of  nearer  approaches  to 
the  Pole  than  tlie  Northern  parts  of  Spitzbergen. 

Fifty  years  ago,  such  apprehensions  were  enter- 
tained of  navigating  even  in  the  loose,  or  what  is 
called  sailing  ice.,  that  the  crews  commonly  continued 
on  shore,*  from  whence  they  only  pursued  the  whales 
in  boats. 

The  demand,  however,  for  oil  increasing,  whilst 
the  number  offish  rather  decreased,  they  were  obliged 
to  proceed  to  sea  in  quest  of  them,  and  now,  by  expe- 
rience and  adroitness,  seldom  suffer  from  the  obstruc- 
tions of  ice.f 

The  masters  of  ships,  who  are  employed  in  this 
trade,  have  no  other  object  but  catching  whales, 
which,  as  long  as  they  can  procure  in  more  Southern 
Latitudes,  they  certainly  will  not  go  in  search  of  at 
a  greater  distance  from  the  port  to  which  they  are  to 
return :  they,  therefore,  seldom  proceed  much  beyond 
eighty  degrees  North  Latitude,  unless  driven  by  a 
strong  Southerly  wind  or  other  accident. 

Whenever  this  happens,  also,  it  is  only  by  very 
diligent  inquiries  that  any  information  can  be  procur- 
ed ;  for  the  masters,  not  being  commonly  men  of  sci- 

*  There  were  houses  still  standing  on  Spitzbergen,  where  the 
Dutch  used  to  boil  their  train  oil. — Marten's  Voyage,  p.  24.  See 
also  Callander,  vol.  iii.  p.  723. 

t  These  particulars  I  received  from  Captain  Robinson,  whom  I 
shall  have  hereafter  occasion  to  mention. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  17 

ence,  or  troubling  their  heads  about  the  improvement 
of  geographical  knowledge,  never  mention  these  cir- 
cumstances on  their  return,  because  they  conceive 
that  no  one  is  more  interested  about  these  matters 
than  they  are  themselves.  Many  of  the  Greenland 
masters  are  likewise  directed  to  return  after  the  early 
fishery  is  over,  provided  they  have  tolerable  success ; 
so  that  they  have  no  opportunity  of  making  disco- 
veries to  the  Northward. 

To  these  reasons  it  may  be  added,  that  no  ships 
were  perhaps  ever  sent  before  last  summer  with  ex- 
press instructions  to  reach  the  Pole,  if  possible,  as 
most  other  attempts  have  been  to  discover  a  North- 
east or  Northwest  Passage,  w  hich  were  soon  defeat- 
ed by  falling  in  with  land,  or  other  accident. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  instan- 
ces of  ships  reaching  high  Northern  latitudes  must 
necessarily  be  rare,  1  shall  now  proceed  to  lay  before 
the  Society  such  as  I  have  been  able  to  hear  of  since 
the  voyage  towards  the  North,  Pole  was  undertaken 
during  last  summer. 

When  this  was  determined  upon,  and  mentioned  in 
the  newspapers,  it  became  matter  of  conversation 
amongst  the  crews  of  the  guard-ships ;  and  Andrew 
Leekie,  an  intelligent  seaman  on  board  the  Albion 
(then  stationed  at  Plymouth,)  informed  some  of  the 
officers  that  he  had  been  as  far  North  as  84i°. 

When  he  was  asked  farther  on  this  head,  he  said 
that  he  was  on  board  the  Reading,  Captain  Thomas 
Robinson,  in  1766,  and  that,  whilst  he  was  shaving 
the  Captain,  Mr.  Robinson  told  him,  that  he  had 
probably  never  been  so  far  to  the  Northward  before, 

3 


18  ON  APPROACHING 

as  they  had  now  reached  the  above-mentioned  degree 
of  latitude. 

Having  happened  to  hear  this  account  of  Leekie's, 
on  my  return  to  London  this  winter,  I  found  out  Cap- 
tain Robinson,  who  remembered  his  having  had  this 
conversation  with  Leekie ;  but  said,  that  he  was  mis- 
taken in  supposing  that  they  had  reached  Mh°  North 
latitude,  as  they  were  only  in  82F. 

Captain  Robinson  then  explained  himself,  that  he 
had  at  this  time  computed  his  latitude  by  the  run 
back  to  Hakluyt's  Headland  in  twenty-four  hours ; 
from  which,  and  other  circumstances  mentioned  in 
my  presence  before  two  sea-otiicers,  they  told  me 
afterward,  that  they  had  little  or  no  doubt  of  the 
accuracy  of  his  reckoning.  Mr.  Robinson  likewise 
remembers  that  the  sea  was  then  open,  so  that  he  hath 
no  doubt  of  being  able  to  reach  83°,  but  how  much 
farther  he  will  not  pretend  to  say. 

This  same  Captain,  in  the  ship  St.  George,  was,  on 
the  15th  of  June,  1773,  in  North  latitude  SV  16',  by 
a  very  accurate  observation  \^  ith  an  approved  Had- 
ley's  quadrant,  in  which  he  also  made  the  proper 
allowance  for  the  refraction  in  high  Northern  lati- 
tudes ;  at  which  time  seeing  some  whales  spouting  to 
the  Northward,  he  pursued  them  for  five  hours,  so 
that  he  must  have  reached  81i,  when  the  sea  was 
open  to  the  Westward  and  East  Northeast  as  far 
as  he  could  distinguish  from  the  mast-head.  His 
longitude  was  then  8°  East  from  the  meridian  of 
London. 

Captain  Robinson  is  a  very  intelligent  seaman,  and 
liath  navigated  the  Greenland  Seas  these  twentyyears. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  19 

except  during  the  interval  that  he  was  employed  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company* 

I  could  add  some  other,  perhaps  interesting,  parti- 
culars, which  I  have  received  from  Captain  Robin- 
son, with  regard  to  Spitzbergen  and  the  Polar  Seas; 
I  will  only  mention,  however,  that  he  thinks  he  could 
spend  a  winter  not  uncomfortably  in  the  most  North- 
ern parts  we  are  acquainted  with,t  as  there  are  three 
or  four  small  settlements  of  Russians  in  this  country, 
for  the  sake  of  the  skins  of  quadrupeds,  which  are 
then  more  valuable  than  if  the  animal  is  taken  in 
summer. 

The  next  instance  I  shall  mention  of  a  navigator, 
who  hath  proceeded  far  Northward,  is  that  of  Captain 
Cheyne,  who  gave  answers  to  certain  queries  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Dalrymple,  F.R.S.  in  relation  to  the  Polar 
Seas,  and  which  were  communicated  last  year  to  the 
Society. 

Captain  Cheyne  states,  in  this  paper,  that  he  hath 
been  as  far  as  North  latitude  82° ;  but  does  not  spe- 
cify whether  by  observation  or  his  reckonings  though 

*  He  lived  during  this  winter  in  Queen-street,  near  Greenland 
Dock,  Rotherhithe  ;  he  hath  sailed,  probably,  by  this  time  on  the 
Greenland  Fishery.  With  regard  to  his  having  been  in  North  lati- 
tude 81°  30',  in  June,  1773,  he  can  prove  it  by  his  Journal,  if 
that  evidence  should  be  required. 

t  See  the  Narrative  of  eight  sailors,  who  wintered  in  Greenland 
A.  D.  1630,  and  who  all  returned  in  health  to  England  the  ensuing 
summer. — Churchill's  Voyage,  vol.  iv.  p.  811. 

They  did  not  see  the  sun  from  the  14th  of  October  till  the  3d  of 
February.  By  the  last  day  of  January,  however,  they  had  day- 
light of  eight  hours.  They  wintered  in  North  latitude.  77 — 1**. — 
Ibid. 


20  ON  APPROACH  ING 

from  many  other  answers  to  the  interrogatories  pro- 
posed, it  sliould  seem  that  he  speaks  of  the  latitude 
bj  observation.  Unfortunately  Captain  Cheyne  is  at 
present  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  so  that  farther  infor- 
mation on  this  head  cannot  be  now  procured  from 
him. 

Whilst  the  ships  destined  for  the  North  Pole  were 
preparing,  a  most  ingenious  and  able  Sea-Officer, 
Lieutenant  John  Cartwright,  told  me,  that  twelve 
years  ago  he  had  been  informed  of  a  very  remark- 
able voyage  made  by  Captain  Mac-Callam  as  far 
nearly  as  84°  North  latitude. 

This  account  Mr.  Cartwright  had  received  from  a 
brother  Officer,  Mr.  James  Watt,  now  a  Master  and 
Commander  in  the  Royal  Navy,  who  was  on  board 
Captain  Mac-Callam's  ship. 

I  thought  it  my  duty  to  acquaint  the  Admiralty  with 
this  intelligence,  who  would  have  sent  for  Mr.  Watt, 
but  he  was  then  employed  on  the  coast  of  America. 

On  his  return  from  thence,  within  the  last  month, 
Mr.  Cartwright  introduced  a  conversation  with  regard 
to  Captain  Mac-Callam's  voyage,  when  Mr.  Watt  re- 
peated all  the  circumstances  which  he  had  mentioned 
to  him  twelve  years  ago ;  after  which  Mr.  Cartwright, 
thinking  that  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  the  particulars 
from  Mr.  Watt  himself,  was  so  good  as  to  bring  him 
to  my  chambers,  when  I  received  from  him  the  fol- 
lowing information. 

In  the  year  1751  Mr.  Watt,  then  not  quite  seventeen 
years  of  age,  went  on  board  the  Campbeltown  of 
Campbeltown,  Captain  Mac-Callam,  which  ship  was 
at  that  time  employed  in  the  Greenland  Fishery. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  21 

It  seems,  that,  during  the  time  the  whales  are 
supposed  to  copulate,  the  crews  of  the  Greenland 
vessels  commonly  amuse  themselves  on  shore. 

Captain  Mac-Callam,  however,  (who  was  a  very 
able  and  scientific  seaman,)  thought  that  a  voyage  to 
the  North  Pole  would  be  more  interesting ;  and  that, 
the  season  being  a  fine  one,  he  had  a  chance  of  pene- 
trating far  to  the  Northward,  as  well  as  returning  be- 
fore the  later  fishery  took  place.  He  accordingly  pro- 
ceeded without  the  least  obstruction  to  83i°,  when  the 
sea  was  not  only  open  to  the  Northward,  but  they 
had  not  seen  a  speck  of  ice  for  the  last  three  degrees, 
and  the  weather  at  the  same  time  was  temperate ;  in 
short,  Mr.  Watt  hath  never  experienced  a  more  plea- 
sant navigation. 

It  need  be  scarcely  observed,  that  the  latitude  of 
83i°  was  determined  by  observation,  as  the  great  ob- 
ject of  the  voyage  was  to  reach  the  Pole ;  the  Captain, 
therefore,  the  Mate,  and  young  Mr.  Watt,  determin- 
ed the  latitude  from  time  to  time,  both  by  Davis  and 
Hadley's  quadrants:  to  this  I  may  add,  that  their 
departure  and  return  were  from  and  to  Hakluyt's 
Headland. 

When  they  were  advancing  into  these  high  North- 
ern latitudes,  the  Mate  complained  that  the  compass 
was  not  steady,  on  which  Captain  Mac-Callam  desist- 
ed from  his  attempt,  though  with  reluctance ;  know- 
ing that  if  any  accident  happened,  he  should  be? 
blamed  by  his  owners,  who  would  be  reminded  cer- 
tainly by  the  Mate  of  the  protests  he  had  made 
against  the  ship's  proceeding  farther  Northward. 


tl2  ON  APPROACHING 

Several  of  the  crew,  however,  were  for  prosecuting 
their  discoveries,  and  Mr.  Watt  particularly  remem- 
bers the  chagrin  which  w^as  expressed  by  a  very 
intelligent  seaman,  whose  name  was  John  Kelly; 
Captain  Mac-Callam,  also,  after  his  return  from  that 
voyage,  hath  frequently  said,  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Watt  and  others,  that,  if  the  Mate  had  not  been  faint- 
hearted, the  ship  possibly  might  have  reached  the 
Pole. 

Both  Captain  Mac-Callam  and  the  Mate  are  now 
dead,  and  it  is  rather  doubtful  whether  the  ship's 
Journal  can  be  procured. 

It  remains  therefore  to  be  considered  what  may  be 
objected  to  the  credibility  of  this  very  interesting 
account. 

I  have  stated,  that  Mr.  Watt  was  not,  at  the  time 
this  voyage  took  place,  quite  seventeen  years  of  age  ; 
but  I  have  also  stated,  that  he  observed  himself  (as 
well  as  the  Master  and  Mate)  from  time  to  time.  Is 
it  therefore  more  extraordinary  he  should  remember 
with  accuracy,  that,  two  and  twenty  years  ago,  he 
had  been  in  North  latitude  83i°,  than  that,  at  the  same 
distance  of  time,  he  might  recollect  that  he  had  been 
at  a  friend's  house,  which  was  situate  eighty-three 
miles  and  a  half  from  London  ?  Or  rather,  indeed,  is 
not  his  memory,  with  regard  to  this  high  latitude, 
much  more  to  be  depended  upon,  as  the  circumstance 
is  so  much  more  interesting,  especially  as  Mr.  Watt 
was  even  then  of  a  scientific  turn  ? 

To  this  I  may  add,  that  it  being  his  first  voyage, 
and  so  remarkable  an  one.  Mr,  Watt  now  declares 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  23 

that  he  remembers  more  particulars  relative  to  it, 
than  perhaps  in  any  other  since  that  time :  other  sea- 
officers  have  hkewise  told  me,  that  the  circumstances 
of  their  first  voyages  are  most  fresh  in  their  memory, 
the  reason  for  which  is  too  obvious  to  be  dwelt 
upon. 

If  Mr.  Watt's  recollection  however  is  distrusted, 
this  objection  extends  equally  to  Captain  Mac-Cal- 
lam's  frequent  declarations,  that,  if  the  apprehensions 
of  the  Mate  had  not  prevented,  he  might  possibly 
have  reached  the  North  Pole  :  and  how  could  he  have 
conceived  this,  unless  he  had  imagined  himself  to 
have  been  in  a  very  high  Northern  latitude  ? 

But  it  may  be  possibly  said,  that  this  voyage 
took  place  above  twenty  years  since,  and  that  there- 
fore, at  sucli  a  distance  of  time,  no  one's  memory 
can  be  relied  upon. 

It  is  true  indeed,  that  Mac-Callam  made  this  at- 
tempt in  1751 ;  but  Mr.  Watt  continued  his  services 
the  following  year  in  a  Greenland  ship,  and  therefore, 
traversing  nearly  the  same  seas,  must  have  renewed 
the  recollection  of  what  he  had  experienced  in  the 
preceding  voyage,  though  he  did  not  then  proceed 
farther  than  North  latitude  80^ 

This,  however,  brings  it  only  to  17.52;  but  I  have 
already  stated,  that  within  these  twelve  years  he 
mentioned  all  the  particulars  above  related  to  his 
brother-officer.  Lieutenant  Cartwright. 

Mr.  Watt  also  frequently  conversed  with  Captain 
Mac-Callam  about  this  voyage  after  both  of  them  had 
quitted  the  Greenland  ships;  Mr.  Watt  rising  regu- 
larly to  be  a  Master  and  Commander  in  His  Majesty'p 


"24  ON  APPROACHING 

service,  and  Captain  Mac-Callam  becoming  Purser 
of  the  Tweed  Man  of  War. 

It  so  happened,  that  in  the  year  of  the  expedition 
against  Bellisle,  Mr.  Watt,  Captain  Mac-Callam,  and 
Mr.  Walker  (commonly  called  Commodore  Walker, 
from  his  having  commanded  the  Royal  Family  pri- 
vateers in  the  late  war,)  met  together  at  Portsmouth, 
when  they  talked  over  the  circumstances  of  this 
Greenland  voyage,  which  Mr.  Walker  was  interested 
in,  by  having  been  the  principal  owner  of  the  Camp- 
beltown. 

Mr.  Watt  and  Captain  Mac-Callam  met  also  eleven 
years  ago  in  London,  when  they  as  usual  conversed 
about  the  having  reached  so  high  a  Northern  lati- 
tude. 

1  now  come  to  my  last  proof,  which  I  received  from 
the  late  Dr.  Campbell,  the  able  continuator  and  revi- 
ser of  Harris's  Collection  of  Voyages. 

In  that  very  valuable  compilation.  Commodore 
Roggewein's  circumnavigation  makes  a  most  material 
addition,  some  of  the  most  interesting  particulars  of 
which  w  ere  communicated  by  Dr.  Dallie,  w^ho  was  a 
native  of  Holland,*  and  lived  in  Racquet  Court,  Fleet 
Street,  about  the  year  1745,  where  he  practised 
physic. 

Dr.  Campbell  went  to  thank  Dallie  for  the  having 
furnished  him  with  Roggewein's  Voyage,  when  Dallie 
said,  that  he  had  been  farther  both  to  the  Southward 
and  to  the  Northward  than  perhaps  any  other  person 
who  ever  existed. 

*  He  was  a  grandson  of  Dallie,  who  was  author  of  a  book,  much 
esteemed  by  the  Divines,  entitled  "De  Usu  Patrum,^^ 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  25 

He  then  explained  himself  as  to  the  having  been 
in  high  Southern  latitudes,  by  sailing  in  Roggewein's 
fleet  ;*  and  as  to  his  having  been  far  to  the  North- 
ward, he  gave  the  following  account : — 

Between  fifty  and  sixty  years  ago  it  was  usual  to 
send  a  Dutch  ship  of  war  to  superintend  the  Green- 
land fishery,  though  it  is  not  known  whether  this 
continues  to  be  a  regulation  at  present. 

Dr.  Dallie  (then  young)  was  on  board  the  Dutch 
vessel  employed  on  this  service  ;t  and,  during  the 
interval  between  the  two  fisheries,  the  Captain  deter- 
mined, like  Mr.  Mac-Callam,  to  try  whether  he  could 
not  reach  the  Pole;  and  accordingly  penetrated  (to  the 
best  of  Dr.  Campbell's  recollection)  as  far  as  North 
latitude  88°,  when  the  weather  was  warm,  the  sea 
perfectly  free  from  ice,  and  rolling  like  the  Bay  of 
Biscay.  Dallie  now  pressed  the  Captain  to  proceed ; 
but  he  answered,  that  he  had  already  gone  too  far 
by  having  neglected  his  station,  for  which  he  should 
be  blamed  in  Holland :  on  which  account,  also,  he 
would  suffer  no  Journal  to  be  made,  but  returned  as 
speedily  as  he  could  to  Spitzbergen. 

There  are  undoubtedly  two  objections,  which  may 
be  made  to  this  account  of  Dr.  Dallie's,  which  are, 
that  it  depends  not  only  upon  his  own  memory,  but 
that  of  Dr.  Campbell,  as  no  Journal  can  be  produced, 
for  the  reason  which  I  have  before  stated. 

*  Roggewein  reached  South  latitude  62°  30'. — See  Harris. 

t  Dr.  Campbell  does  not  recollect  in  what  capacity  he  served  ; 
but,  as  he  afterward  practised  physic,  he  might  probably  have 
been  the  surgeon. 

4 


26  ON  APPROACHING 

The  conversation,  however,  between  Dr.  Campbell 
and  DaHie,  arose  from  the  accidental  mention  of 
Roggewein's  voyage  to  the  Southward;  and  can  it 
be  supposed  that  Dallie  invented  this  circumstantial 
narrative  on  the  spot,  without  having  actually  been  in 
a  high  Northern  latitude  ? 

If  this  be  admitted  to  have  been  improbable,  was 
he  not  likely  to  have  remembered  with  accuracy 
what  he  was  so  much  interested  about,  as  to  have 
pressed  the  Dutch  Captain  to  have  proceeded  to  the 
Pole? 

But  it  may  be  said,  also,  that  we  have  not  this 
account  from  Dallie  himself,  but  at  second-hand  from 
Dr.  Campbell,  at  the  distance  of  .thirty  years  from 
the  conversation. 

To  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  Dr.  Campbell's 
memory  was  most  remarkably  tenacious,  as  is  well 
known  to  all  those  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his 
acquaintance ;  and,  as  he  hath  written  so  ably  for  the 
promotion  of  geographical  discoveries  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe,  such  an  account  c^uld  not  but  make  a 
strong  impression  upon  him,  especially  as  he  received 
it  just  after  the  first  edition  of  his  compilation  of 
voyages. 

No  one  easily  forgets  what  is  highly  interesting  to 
him ;  and,  though  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  so  good  a 
memory  as  Dr.  Campbell,  I  have  scarcely  a  doubt, 
but  that,  if  I  should  live  thirty  years  longer,  and 
retain  my  faculties,  I  shall  recollect  with  precision 
every  latitude  which  I  have  already  stated  in  this 
Paper. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  27 

What  credit,  however,  is  to  be  given  to  all  these 
narratives  is  entirely  submitted  to  the  Society,  as  f 
have  stated  them  most  fully,  with  every  circumstance 
which  may  invalidate,  as  well  as  support  them ;  and, 
if  I  have  endeavoured  to  corroborate  them  by  the 
observations  which  I  have  made,  it  is  only  because  I 
believe  them. 

It  should  seem  upon  the  whole  of  the  inquiries  on 
this  point,  that  it  is  very  uncertain  when  ships  may 
proceed  far  to  the  Northward  of  Spitzbergen ;  and 
that  it  depends,  not  only  upon  the  season,  but  other 
accidents,  when  the  Polar  Seas  may  be  so  free  from 
ice  as  to  permit  attempts  to  make  discoveries.* 

Possibly,  therefore,  if  a  King's  officer  was  sent 
from  year  to  year  on  board  one  of  the  Greenland 
ships,  the  lucky  opportunity  might  be  seized,  and  the 
Navy  Board  might  pay  for  the  use  of  the  vessel,  if  it 
was  taken  from  the  whale  fishery,  in  order  to  pro- 
ceed as  far  as  may  be  towards  the  North  Pole. 

DAIXES  BJlRRTJ^GTOJ\\  FES. 

*  Captiiin  Robinson  hath  informed  me,  that  nt  tlie  latter  end  of 
last  April  a  Whitby  Ship  was  in  North  latitude  80°,  without  having 
been  materially  obstructed  by  the  ice.  Captain  Marshall  was  also 
off  Hiikluyt's  Headland  so  e;irly  as  the  25th  April,  without  observ- 
ina:  much  ice. 


ADDITIONAL  PROOFS,  ^c. 

Read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Royal  Society. 
DEC.  22,  1774. 

As  I  happened  to  have  collected  many  additional 
facts  since  my  paper,  containing  Instances  of  Naviga- 
tors who  had  reached  high  Northern  latitudes,  was 
read  before  the  Society  in  May  last,  I  shall  take  the 
liberty  to  state  them  according  to  chronological 
order;  together  with  some  general  reasons  why  it 
may  be  presumed,  that  the  Polar  Seas  are,  at  least 
sometimes,  navigable. 

I  think  it  my  duty  to  do  this,  not  only  because  I 
was  the  unworthy  proposer  of  the  Polar  voyage  in 
1773,  which  was  recommended  by  the  Council  of  the 
Royal  Society  to  the  Board  of  Admiralty;  but  be- 
cause it  would  not  redound  much  to  the  credit  of  the 
Society,  if  they  planned  a  voyage  to  reach  the  North 
Pole,  if  possible,  when  a  perpetual  barrier  of  ice 
prevented  any  discoveries  in  the  Spitzbergen  seas  to 
the  Northward  of  801°,  which  is  not  a  degree  beyond 
the  most  common  station  of  the  Greenland  fishers. 

I  must  here,  however,  repeat,  that  no  one  is  more 
entirely  satisfied  than  myself  of  the  great  abilities, 
perseverance,  and  intrepidity,  with  which  the  offi- 


30  ON  APPROACHING 

cers,  who  were  sent  on  this  destination,  attempted  to 
prosecute  their  discoveries ;  but  I  conceive,  from  the 
arguments  and  facts  which  will  follow,  that  they 
were  stopped  by  a  most  unfortunate  barrier  of  ice 
(of  great  extent  indeed)  but  which  was  only  tem- 
porary and  not  perpetual. 

If  such  a  wall  of  ice  hath  been  constantly  fixed  in 
this  latitude,  and  must  continue  to  be  so,  there  is  an 
end  to  all  discoveries  to  be  made  to  the  northward 
of  Spitzbergen ;  but  if  it  is  only  occasional,  the 
attempt  may  be  resumed  in  some  fortunate  year* 

The  point  therefore  being  of  so  much  importance 
to  geography,  I  hope  the  Society  will  pardon  me,  if  I 
more  fully  enter  into  the  subject  than  I  did  in  my 
former  Paper. 

The  English  have  long  taken  the  lead  in  geogra- 
phical discoveries.  One  of  our  ships  of  war  is  lately 
returned,  after  having  penetrated  into  the  Antarctic 
Circle ;  and  is  it  not  rather  a  reflection  upon  a  scien- 
tific nation,  that  more  is  not  known  with  regard  to 
the  circumpolar  regions  of  our  own  hemisphere,  than 
can  be  collected  from  maps  made  in  the  time  of 
Charles  I.  especially  when  the  run  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Thames  to  the  North  Pole  is  not  a  longer  one 
than  from  Falmouth  to  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands  ? 

Though  I  have  the  honour  to  be  a  Fellow  of  a 
Society   instituted    for    the    promotion    of  Natural 

*  Upon  the  first  return  of  the  king's  ships  from  the  Polar  Voyage, 
this  notion  of  a  perpetual  barrier  of  ice  at  North  latitude  80^"  had 
prevailed  so  much,  that  some  very  distinguished  philosophers  of 
this  country  had  shown  thoughts  of  proceeding  to  the  Pole  over  the 
ice,  in  such  a  wind  boat  as  the  Dutch  have  sometimes  made  use  of. 


THE  NORTH  POLE-  31 

Knowledge,  the  prejudices  of  an  Englishman  are  so 
strong  with  me,  that  I  cannot  but  wish  the  discoverie3 
to  be  made  in  the  Polar  Seas  may  be  achieved  by 
my  countrymen ;  but,  if  we  are  determined  to  aban- 
don the  enterprise,  science  is  to  be  honoured  from 
whatever  quarter  it  iflay  come,  and  it  hath  therefore 
given  me  great  satisfaction  to  hear,  that  Mons.  de 
Bougainville  is  soon  to  be  sent  on  discoveries  to  the 
Northward* 

In  the  outset  of  my  former  Paper,  I  said  I  should 
not  trouble  the  Society  with  any  instances  of  naviga- 
tors having  reached  high  Northern  Latitudes,  which 
had  appeared  in  print.  During  tlie  course  of  this 
summer,  however,  I  have  happened  to  find  three 
such  accounts,  which  were  never  before  alluded  to, 
and  which  are  extracted  from  books  that  are  not 
commonly  looked  into,  or  at  least  often  consulted 
upon  points  of  geography. 

When  the  Royal  Society  was  first  instituted,  it  was 
usual  to  send  queries  to  any  traveller  who  happened 
to  reside  in  England,  after  having  been  in  parts  of 
the  world  which  are  not  commonly  frequented.! 

In  the  year  1662-3,  Mr.  Oldenburgh,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  was  ordered  to  register  a  Paper, 
entitled,  "  Several  Inquiries  concerning  Greenland, 
answered  by  Mr.  Grey,  who  had  visited  those  parts.'' 

*  I  have  since  been  informed,  that  this  intended  voyage  wa? 
dropped,  by  the  French  Minister  for  the  marine  department  being 
changed. 

t  Richard  Hakhiyt  rode  two  hundred  miles  to  hear  the  Narrative 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Butt's  Voyage,  temp.  Henry  VIII.  from  England  t© 
Newfoundland.-— Hakluyt,  part  iii,  p.  131. 


32  ON  APPROACHING 

The  19th  of  these  queries  is  the  following : — 

"  How  near  any  one  hath  been  known  to  approach 
the  Pole?" 

Answer.  "  I  once  met,  upon  the  Coast  of  Green- 
land, a  Hollander,  that  swore  he  had  been  but  half 
a  degree  from  the  Pole,  showing  me  his  Journal, 
which  was  also  attested  by  his  mate;  where  they  had 
seen  no  ice  or  land,  but  all  water."* 

After  which  Mr.  Oldenburgh  adds,  as  from  himself, 
"  This  is  incredible."! 

It  may  not  be  improper,  therefore,  after  mentioning 
this  first  instance  of  a  navigator's  having  approached 
80  near  to  the  Pole,  to  discuss  upon  what  reasons 
Mr.  Oldenburgh  might  found  his  very  peremptory 
incredulity. 


*  Mr.  Boyle  mentions  a  similar  account,  which  he  received  from 
an  old  Greenland  Master,  on  the  5th  of  April,  1675. — See  Boyle's 
Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  397  to  399,  folio.  The  whole  of  this  Narrative 
is  very  circumstantial,  and  deserves  to  be  stated  at  length.  The 
title  is  "  Experiments  and  Observations  made  in  December  and 
January,  1662." 

t  See  Dr.  Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society,  vol.  I.  p.  202. 
These  queries  are  nineteen  in  number,  to  which  the  answers  are 
very  circumstantial.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  reading  them  over  to 
three  very  intelligent  masters  of  Greenland  ships,  who  confirmed 
every  particular.  One  circumstance  I  think  it  right  to  take  notice 
of,  though  it  does  not  immediately  relate  to  the  point  in  discussion, 
which  is,  that  there  are  coals  in  Spitzbergen,  by  which  seven  of 
Mr.  Grey's  crew  were  enabled  to  bear  the  severity  of  the  winter, 
having  been  left  behind  by  an  accident.  One  of  the  Greenland 
Masters,  to  whom  I  read  Mr.  Grey's  answers,  confirmed  this  par- 
ticular ;  saying,  that  he  had  burnt  himself  Spitzbergen  coals,  and 
that  they  were  very  good. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  33 

Was  it  because  the  fact  is  impossible  upon  the 
very  stating  it  ? 

This  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  disbelief  which  is 
generally  shown  to  a  passage  in  Pliny,  even  after  the 
actual  fact  hath  shown  not  only  the  possibility,  but 
easy  practicability  of  wliat  is  alluded  to.  Pliny  in- 
forms us,*  that  Eudoxus,  flying  the  vengeance  of  king 
Lathyrus,  sailed  from  Arabia,  and  reached  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar:  yet  no  one  scarcely  will  believe  this 
account  of  Edoxus's  navigation,  notwithstanding  this 
course  is  so  often  followed. 

Was  it  because  no  Englishman  had  then  been  so 
far  to  the  Northward  ? 

It  is  very  easy,  however,  to  account  why  such 
attempts  should  rather  be  made  by  the  Dutch  than 
the  English  in  the  infancy  of  the  Greenland  Fishery. 

The  southern  parts  of  this  country  were  discovered 
by  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby,  A.  D.  1553  ;  after  which  no 
English  ships  were  sent  on  that  coast  for  nearly  fifty 
years.  In  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  however, 
a  competition  arose  between  the  English  and  Dutch 
with  regard  to  the  Whale  Fishery,  and  the  English 
drove  the  Dutch  from  most  of  the  harbours,  under 
the  right  of  first  discoverers,!  in  which  they  were 

*  Lib.  ii.  chap.  Ixvii. 

t  It  is  also  assigned,  in  the  Supplement  to  Wood  and  Marten's 
Voyages,  p.  179,  8vo.  1694,  as  a  reason  why  the  Enghsh  nSver 
proceeded  farther  than  78°  on  the  East  Coast  of  Spitzbergen,  because 
the  Dutch  were  commonly  superior  on  that  side  of  the  Island. 

Robert  Bacon,  of  Crowmers  in  Norfolk,  was  the  first  discoverer 
also  of  Iceland. — See  the  Itinerary  of  William  of  Wnrcepter,  p.  311 . 
8vo.  Cambridge,  1778. 

5 


34  ON  APPROACHIi\« 

supported  by  royal  instructions ;  so  that  the  Dutch 
were  obhged  to  seek  for  new  stations,  whereas  the 
Enghsh  were  commonly  in  possession  of  the  Green- 
land Ports,  which  they  considered  as  their  own.* 

Did  Mr.  Oldenburgh  disbelieve  the  Dutchman's 
relation,  because  ice  is  frequently  met  with  to  the 
Southward  of  North  latitude  80°  ? 

Ice  is  commonly  seen  upon  the  great  bank  of  New- 
foundland, and  the  harbour  of  Louisburgh  is  often 
covered  with  it,  which  is  only  in  North  latitude  46" ; 
yet  Davis  and  Baffin  have  penetrated,  under  nearly 
the  same  meridians,  beyond  70°. 

I  will  now  suppose  the  tables  changed  between  the 
two  hemispheres  of  our  globe,  and  that  a  Southern 
discoverer,  meeting  with  ice  upon  the  banks  of  New- 
foundland, returns  to  his  own  hemisphere  fully  im- 
pressed with  the  impossibility  q^  proceeding  much  to 
the  Northward  of  North  latitude  46° ;  would  not  his 
countrymen  be  deceived  by  the  inferences  which 
were  drawn  from  what  had  been  observed  in  the  seas 
of  the  Northern  hemisphere  ? 

Bouvet,  in  1738,  sailed  to  53°  Southern  latitude, 
and  in  a  meridian  5°  to  the  West  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  in  which  situation  he  fell  in  with  floating  ice; 
after  which  he  did  not  proceed  any  farther.  Our 
two  ships  of  war,  lately  sent  upon  discoveries  to  the 
Southward,  however,  have  been  some  minutes  witliin 


*  See  Purchas,  passim.  Whilst  these  disputes  continued,  the 
Dutch  often  sent  ships  of  war  to  protect  their  Greenhind  traders, 
which  accounts  for  Dr.  DaUie's  sailing  in  such  a  vessel  to  88'',  as  I 
have  stated  in  my  former  Paper. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  35 

the  Antarctic  Circle,  upon  a  no  very  distant  meridian 
from  that  in  which  Bouvet  sailed. 

Must  the  fact  be  disbelieved  because  all  the  ice  in 
the  Polar  seas  comes  from  the  Northward  ?  But  this 
is  not  so,  as  Mr.  Grey  informs  us,*  that  the  South- 
east wind  brings  the  greatest  quantity  of  ice  to  the 
coasts  of  Spitzbergen ;  which  indeed  is  highly  proba- 
ble, as  this  wind  blows  from  those  parts  of  the  Icy 
sea  into  which  the  great  rivers  of  Siberia  and  Tar- 
tary  empty  themselves.f  My  own  poor  conception, 
with  regard  to  the  floating  ice  in  the  Spitzbergen 
seas,  is,  that  these  masses  come  almost  entirely 
from  the  same  quarter,  as  it  is  so  difficult  to  freeze 
any  large  quantity  of  salt  water.  These  pieces  of 
ice,  therefore,  beina  once  launched  into  the  Icy 
Sea,  are  dispersed  by  winds,  tides,  and  currents,  in 
every  direction,  some  of  them  being  perhaps  carried 
to  very  high  Northern  latitudes,  from  which  they  are 
again  wafted  to  the  Southward. 

But  allowing,  for  an  instant,  that  all  the  ice  may 
come  from  the  Northward,  must  not  then  an  open  sea 
be  left  in  the  higher  Northern  latitudes,  from  which 
these  masses  of  ice  are  supposed  to  have  floated  ? 

Was  it  because  the  more  one  advances  towards 
the  Pole,  vegetation  invariably  is  diminished  ? — But 
this  is  not  the  fact. 

*  Dr.  Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society. 

t  The  ice  is  said  to  be  never  troublesome  in  the  harbour  of  New- 
port (Rhode-Island,  North  America  ;)  because  no  fresh  water  rivers 
empty  themselves  by  this  port ;  whereas  the  harbour  of  New-York 
(though  much  to  the  southward)  is  often  obstructed  by  the  ice, 
which  floats  down  from  Hudson's  river. 


36  ON  APPROACHING 

Nova  Zembla,  situate  only  in  North  latitude  76% 
produces  not  even  any  sorts  of  grass  ;*  so  that  the 
only  quadrupeds  which  frequent  it  are  foxes  and  bears, 
both  of  which  are  carnivorous.  In  the  Northern 
parts  of  Spitzbergen,  on  the  other  hand,  they  have 
reindeer,  which  are  often  excessively  fat;  and  Mr. 
Grey  mentions  three  or  four  plants,  which  flower 
there  during  the  summer.t 

Was  it  because  no  one  had  ever  conceived  it  poa- 
pible  to  proceed  so  far  as  the  Pole  ?J 

Thorne,  however,  a  merchant  of  Bristol,  had  made 
such  a  proposal  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII ;  and  I 
shall  now  also  show,  that  not  only  Mr.  Oldenburgh's 
contemporaries  continued  to  believe  such  a  voyage 
to  be  feasible,  but  many  great  names  in  science  who 
lived  after  him. 

Wood  sailed  on  the  discovery  of  a  Northeast  pas- 
sage to  Japan  in*  1676;  and,  in  the  publication  of  his 
voyage,  he  hath  stated  the  grounds  upon  which  he 
conceived  such  a  voyage  to  be  practicable;  the 
strongest  of  all  which,  perhaps,  is  the  relation  of 
Captain  Goulden,  with  regard  to  a  Dutch  ship  having 
reached  North  latitude  89".  Though  this  account 
hath  often  been  referred  to,  I  do  not  recollect  to  have 
seen  it  stated  with  all  the  circumstances  which  seem 


*  Purchas,  vol.  i.  p.  479. 

t  Dr.  Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society,  vol.  i.  et  seq, 
1  A  Map  of  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  published  at  Berlin  (under 
the  direction  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  and  Belles  Letters,)  places 
a  ship  at  the  Pole,  as  having  arrived  there  according  to  the  Dutch 
accounts. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  37 

to  establish  its  veracity  beyond  contradiction :  I  shall 
therefore  copy  the  very  words  of  Wood.* 

"Captain  Goulden,  who  had  made  above  thirty 
voyages  to  Greenland,  did  relate  to  His  Majesty, 
that,  being  at  Greenland  some  twenty  years  before, 
he  was  in  company  with  two  Hollanders  to  the  east- 
ward of  Edge's  Island  :t  and  that  the  whales  not 
appearing  on  the  shore,  the  two  Hollanders  were 
determined  to  go  farther  Northward,  and  in  a  fort- 
night's time  returned,  and  gave  it  out  that  they  had 
sailed  into 'the  latitude  89",  and  that  they  did  not 
meet  with  any  ice,  but  a  free  and  open  sea ;  and  that 
there  run  a  very  hollow  groicnX  ^ea,  like  that  of  the 
Bay  of  Biscay.  Mr.  Goulden  being  not  satisfied  with 
the  bare  relation,  they  produced  him  ibur  Journals 
out  of  the  two  ships,  which  testiticd  the  same,  and 
that  they  all  agreed  within  four  minutes."§ 

*  Moxon's  account  of  a  Dutch  ship  having  been  two  denrecs  be- 
yond the  Pole  was  also  much  rehed  upon  by  Wood,  which  hath 
never  been  printed  at  large,  but  in  a  now  very  scarce  tract  of  Mox- 
on's, and  in  the  second  volume  of  Harris's  Voyages,  p.  396.  lu 
confirmation  of  this  very  circumstaticial  and  interesting  nai'rative,  I 
have  only  to  add,  that  Moxon  was  hydrographcr  to  Charles  II.  and 
hath  published  several  scientific  treatises. — See  the  Catalogue  of 
the  Bodleian  Librar3\ 

t  Edge's  Island  was  discovered,  A.  D.  ICIG,  by  Captain  Thomas 
Edge,  who  had  made  ten  voyages  to  those  seas. — See  the  Supple- 
ment to  the  Northeast  Voyages,  8vo.  London,  1694.  Whyche's 
Island,  so  called  from  a  gentleman  of  that  name,  w;is  discovered  in 
the  following  year. — Ibid. 

I  Grown  Sea,  is  the  expression  in  the  original.  "  Which  is  not 
practicable  in  these  tempestuous  high  grown  seas." — Dr.  Halley,  in 
his  Journal,  p.  45. 

§  Wood's  Voyage,  p.  145. — Wood's  Vo3'age  was  published  by 
Smith  and  Wulford,  Printers  to  the  Royal  Society  in  1694,  together 


38  ©N  APPROACHING 

Havins:  thus  slated  Wood's  own  words,  it  should 
seem,  that  they  who  deny  the  authenticity  of  the 
relation  must  contend,  that  the  crews  of  both  these 
Dutch  ships  entered  into  a  deliberate  scheme  of 
imposing  upon  their  brother  Whale  Fishers,  and  had 
drawn  up  four  fictitious  Journals  accordingly,  because 
so  many  are  stated  to  have  been  produced  out  of  the 
two  T^hips  to  Captain  Goulden,  whilst  each  of  them 
varied  a  ^ew  minutes  in  the  latitude  ;  whereas,  if  they 
had  determined  to  deceive  Captain  Goulden  and  his 
crew,  the  Journals  would  probably  have  tallied  ex- 
actly. I  must  beg  leave  also  to  make  additional 
observation  on  the  account  as  stated  by  Wood,  whicli 
is,  that  the  Dutch  ships  only  went  to  the  Northward, 
in  search  of  whales,  but  did  not  give  it  out  that  they 
intended  to  make  for  the  Pole,  which,  if  they  had 
done,  it  might  possibly  have  been  an  inducement  to 
carry  on  the  deception  by  forgeries  and  misrepre- 
fcentations.  To  this  it  may  likewise  be  added,  that 
the  Dutch  are  not  commonly  jokers. 

I  have  already  remarked,  that  Wood  makes  this 
account  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  his  undertak- 
ing the  Northeast  passage  to  Japan.  Wood  therefore 
(Mr.  Oldenburgh's  contemporary)  was  not  a  disbe- 
liever before  his  voyage,  of  the  possibility  of  reach- 
ing so  high  a  Northern  latitude,  nor  of  any  of  the  cir- 
cumstances stated  in  this  Narrative. 

But  Captain  Wood  is  not  a  single  instance  of  such 
credulity,  as,  the  very  year  before  he  sailed  on  his 

Tvith  Sir  John  Narboroiigh's,  Marten's,  and  other  Navigators.  The 
book  is  dedicated  to  Pepys,  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty  ;  and  he  is 
complimented  therein  for  having  furnished  the  materials. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  39 

Yojage,  we  find  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for 
1675*  the  following  passage : — '•  For  it  is  well  known 
to  all  that  sail  Northward,  that  most  of  the  Nortlioni 
coasts  are  frozen  up  many  leagues,  though  in  the 
open  sea  it  is  not  so,  wo,  nor  wider  the  Pole  itself^  unless 
by  accident."  In  which  passage,  the  having  reached 
the  Pole  is  alluded  to  as  a  known  fact,  and  stated  as 
such  to  the  Royal  Society. 

Wood  indeed,  after  not  being  able  to  proceed 
farther  than  North  latitude  76°,  discredits  in  the  lump 
all  the  former  instances  of  having  reached  high 
Northern  latitudes,  in  the  following  words : — 

"So  here  the  opinion  of  William  Barentz  was  con- 
futed, and  all  the  Dutch  relations,'}"  which  certainly 
are  all  forged  and  abusive  pamphlets,  as  also  the 
relations  of  our  countrymen."]: 

Injustice,  however,  to  the  memoirs  of  both  English 
and  Dutch  Navigators,  I  cannot  but  take  notice  of 
these  very  peremptory  and  ill-founded  reflections, 
made  by  Wood:  and  which  seem  to  be  dictated 
merely  by  his  disappointment,  in  not  being  able  to 
effect  his  discovery. 

Wood  attempted  to  sail  in  a  Northeast  direction 
between  Spitzbergen  and  Nova  Zembla,  but  was 
obstructed  by  ice,  so  that  he  could  not  proceed 
farther  than  the  West  coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  in  North 

*  No.  118. 
t  The  Dutch  made  three  voyages  for  the  discovery  of  the  North- 
east Passage  in  three  successive  years,  the  third  being  in  1596, 
which  last  was  by  the  encouragement  of  a  private  subscription  only. 
•^See  Gerard  de  Veer,  p.  13.  folio.  Amsterdam,  1609. 

t  Wood's  Voyage,  p.  181. 


40  ON  APPROACHING 

latitude  7G°.  Tliinking  it,  therefore,  prudent  to 
return,  he  at  once  treats  as  fabulous,  not  only  the 
ideas  of  that  most  persevering  seaman,  William 
Bareiitz,  but  likewise  all  other  accounts  of  ships 
having  reached  high  Northern  latitudes.  Now  that 
the  ice,  which  obstructed  Wood  in  North  Latitude 
76",  was  not  a  perpetual,  but  only  an  occasional  bar- 
rier, appears  by  the  Russians  having  not  only  dis- 
covered, but  lived  several  years  in  the  island  of 
Maloy  Brun,  which  lies  between  Spitzbergen  and 
Nova  Zembla,  and  extends  from  North  latitude 
77°  25'  to  78°  45'.*  The  Dutch  also  sailed  round  the 
Northern  Coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  and  wintered  on  the 
Eastern  side  in  1596.t 

As  for  Wood's  treating  all  discoveries  towards  the 
Pole,  from  the  Northern  parts  of  Spitzbergen,  as 
fabulous,  he  had  not  the  least  foundation,  from  what 
he  had  observed  on  his  own  voyage,  for  this  un- 
merited aspersion  upon  their  veracity;   because,  if 

*  See  the  English  Translation  of  Professor  Le  Roy's  account  of 
this  Island,  p.  85,  8vo.,  London,  1774,  printed  for  C.  Heydinger. 
As  also  the  Sieur  de  Vaugondy's  Essai  d^une  Carte  Polaire  Arctique, 
pubhshed  in  1774,  who  represents  this  Island  as  extending  from 
North  latitude  77°  20'  to  78°  3C/,  its  longitude  being  60"  East  from 
Fero. 

t  See  the  Map  of  the  circumpolar  regions,  which  accompanies 
Wood's  Voyage.  The  Northern  point  of  Nova  Zembla,  in  this  Map, 
is  in  77°  nearly.  There  were  factions  in  Holland  with  regard  to 
the  method  of  discovering  the  Northeast  Passage.  Barentz,  insti- 
gated by  Plancius,  the  geographer,  was  for  making  the  trial  to  the 
North  of  Nova  Zembla ;  the  other  two  ships,  which  sailed  on  that 
expedition  of  discovery,  were  to  attempt  passing  the  Weygatz. — 
Recueil  des  Voyages  au  Nord.  torn.  iv.     Linschoten's  Preface. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  41 

Wood's  barrier  between  Spitzbergen  and  Nova 
Zerabla,  in  North  latitude  76°,  had  been  perpetual, 
what  hath  this  to  do  with  the  course  of  a  ship  sailing 
from  the  Northern  parts  of  Spitzbergen  upon  a  me- 
ridian towards  the  Pole  ? 

I  caj;inot,  however,  dismiss  Wood's  Voyage  without 
making  some  further  remarks  on  his  concluding,  that 
the  obstructions  which  he  met  with  in  North  lati- 
tude 76°  were  perpetual. 

Almost  every«  voyage  to  seas  in  which  floating  ice 
is  commonly  to  be  found,  proves  the  great  difp^rence 
between  the  quantities,  as  well  as  size,  of  these 
impediments  to  navigation,  though  in  the  same  lati- 
tude and  time  of  the  year. 

Davis,  in  his  two  first  voyages  to  discover  the 
Northwest  Passage,  could  not  penetrate  beyond 
66'^;  but  in  his  third  voyage,  in  1587,  he  reached 
72°  12.* 

In  the  year  1576,  Sir  Martin  Frobisher  passed  the 
Straits  (since  called  from  their  first  discoverer) 
without  any  obstructions  from  ice ;  in  his  two  fol- 
lowing voyages,  however,  he  found  them  in  the  same 
month,  to  use  his  own  expression,  "•  in  a  manner  shut 
up  with  a  long  mure  of  ice.'"t 

In  the  year  1611,  Baffin  proceeded  to  81°,  and 
thought  he  saw  land  as  far  as  82^1  to  the  Northeast 
of  Spitzbergen,  which  is  accordingly  marked  in  one 

*  See  Hakluyt,  and  Purchas,  vol.  i.  p.  84. 

t  Purchas,  ibid. 

I  See  also  the  Supplement  to  Wood  and  i\Iarten's  Voyae-es,  in  the 
8vo.  publication  of  1694,  in  which  Point  Purchas  is  stated  to  be  in 
North  Latitude  82°. 

G 


42  ON  APPR0ACHIN6 

of  Purchas's  Maps.  During  this  voyage  he  met,  near 
Cherry  Island,  situate  only  in  74°  North  latitude, 
two  banks  of  ice;  the  one  forty  leagues  in  length, 
the  other  one  hundred  and  twenty ;  which  last  would 
extend  to  twenty-five  degrees  of  longitude  in  North 
latitude  76°,  where  Wood  fixes  his  barri^.      ^ 

It  need  therefore  scarcely  be  observed,  that  such 
a  floating  wall  of  ice,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
leagues  long,  by  being  jammed  in  between  land,  or 
other  banks  of  ice,  might  afford  an  appearance 
indeed  of  forming  a  perpetual  barrier,  when,  perhaps, 
within  the  next  twenty-four  hours,  the  wall  of  ice 
might  entirely  vanish. 

Of  the  sudden  assemblage  of  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  ice,  I  shall  now  mention  two,  rather  recent, 
instances, 

I  have  been  very  accurately  informed,  that  the 
late  Colonel  Murray  happened  to  go,  in  the  month  of 
May,  from  one  of  our  Southern  Colonies  to  Louis- 
burgh,  when  the  harbour  was  entirely  open ;  but,  on 
rising  in  the  morning,  it  was  completely  filled  with 
ice,  so  that  a  wagon  might  have  passed  over  it  in 
any  direction.* 

*  On  the  19th  of  December,  1759,  the  Potowmack,  in  a  part 
where  it  was  two  miles  broad,  and  nearly  in  North  Latitude  of  only 
38°,  was  frozen  entirely  over  in  one  night,  when  the  preceding  day 
had  been  very  mild  and  temperate. — Burnaby's  Travels  through 
North  America,  p,  59. 

Camden,  in  his  Annals  of  Elizabeth,  asserts,  that  Davis  reached 
83*,  where  the  Straits,  called  afier  him,  were  narrowed  to  forty 
leagues. — See  Camden,  anno  1585,  We  have  not  since  been  able 
to  proceed  so  far  to  the  Northward. 


tWe  north  pole.  43 

I  have  also  received  the  following  account  from  an 
officer  in  the  Royal  Navy,  who  was  not  many  years 
ago  on  the  Newfoundland  station. 

In  the  middle  of  June  the  whole  Straits  of  Bellisle 
were  covered  in  the  same  manner  with  the  harbour 
of  Louisburgh,  and  for  three  weeks  together  a  car- 
riage might  have  passed  from  one  shore  to  the  other ; 
but  during  a  single  night  the  ice  had  almost  entirely 
disappeared.  Such  is  the  sudden  accumulation  of 
ice,  in  latitudes  twenty-four  and  thirty  degrees  to  the 
Southward  of  Wood's  situation. 

Linschoten  asserts,  that  being  in  the  Straits  of 
Weygate,  the  last  day  of  July,  he  was  told  by  the 
Samoieds  on  that  coast,  that  in  ten  or  twelve  days 
afterward  the  ice  'in  the  Straits  would  be  all  gone, 
though  they  were  then  quite  blocked  up  with  it. 
When  he  repassed  these  Straits  afterward,  on  the 
13th  of  August,  he  found  not  the  least  vestige  of  it, 
so  quickly  do  these  huge  masses  dissolve  after  they 
once  begin  to  thaw.* 

On  the  other  hand,  Callander  admits,  that  by 
accumulation  of  floating  ice  places  are  now  inacces- 
sible which  were  not  formerly  so,  and  instances  the 
Eastern  Coast  of  .Greenland,  as  also  Frobisher's 
Straits-t  Kergulen,  in  his  account  of  Iceland,  like- 
wise mentions,  that  the  sea  between  Iceland  and 
Greenland  was  entirely  closed  during  the  whole 
summer  of  1766. 

I  shall  now  endeavour  to  show,  that  Dr.  Halley 
was  no  more  incredulous  with  regard  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  reaching  high  Northern   latitudes,    than 

*  Callander'6  Preface,  p.  38.  t  Ibid. 


44  ON  APPROACHING 

Captain  Wood  was  before  the  ill    success    of  hii 
voyage  on  discovery. 

Mr.  Miller,  in  his  Gardener's  Dictionary,  hath  the 
following  passage,  under  the  article  Thermometer  : — 
•  *'  Mr.  Patrick  has  fixed  his  thermometer  to  a  scale 
of  90°,  which  are  numbered  from  the  top  downward, 
and  also  a  moveable  index  to  it.  The  design  of  this 
is  to  show,  how  the  heat  and  cold  is  changed  from 
the  time  it  was  last  looked  upon,  according  to  the 
difforent  degrees  of  heat  and  cold  in  all  latitudes. 
As  by  the  trial  of  two  thermometers,  which  have  been 
regulated  abroad ;  the  one  by  Dr.  Halley,  in  his  late 
Southern  voyage ;  and  the  other  by  Captain  Johnson, 
in  his  voyage  to  Greenland ;  the  first  hath  a  heai 
under  the  equinoctial  line,  and  the  other  a  degree  of 
cold  in  88°  of  North  latitude." 

I  have  taken  some  pains  to  find  out  a  more  full 
account  of  this  voyage  of  Captain  Johnson's;  but 
have  only  met  with  the  following  confirmation  of  it 
perhaps : — 

"  I  have  been  assured,  by  persons  of  credit^  that  an 
English  Captain,  whose  name  was  Monson,  instead 
of  seeking  a  passage  to  China  between  the  Northern 
countries,  had  directed  his  course  to  the  Pole,  and 
had  approached  it  within  two  degrees,  where  there 
was  an  open  sea,  without  any  ice."* 

As  the  Captain  Monson  mentioned  in  this  passage, 
reached  exactly  the  same  degree  of  latitude  with 
Captain  Johnson,  I  should  rather  think,  that  this  is 
the  same   voyage  j  especially,  as  it  is  well  known, 

*  See  M.  de  Buflfon's  Natural  History,  vol.  i,,p.  215.  4to, 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  i5 

that  the  French  writers  seldom  trouble  themselves 
about  the  orthography  of  foreign  names. 

If  this,  however,  should  not  be  the  case,  it  must 
be  admitted  to  be  an  additional  instance  of  a  ship's 
having  reached  North  latitude  88",  as  well  as  JNIons. 
de  BufTon's  giving  credit  to  such  relation.* 

Havjng  therefore  not  been  able  to  pick  up  any 
other  circumstances  in  relation  to  Captain  Jolm- 
son's  voyage,  I  shall  now  state  what  seems  to  be  fairly 
deducihle  from  the  passage,  which  I  have  copied 
from  Miller's  Gardener's  Dictionary. 

Dr.  Halley  made  his  voyage  to  the  Southward  in 
1700;  on  the  return  from  which,  he  probably  em- 
ployed Patrick,  as  the  most  eminent  maker  of  weather 
glasses,t  to  graduate  a  thermometer  according  to  the 
heat  he  bad  experienced  under  the  equator.  It  was 
very  natural,  therefore,  when  such  a  point  of  heat 
was  to  be  marked  upon  the  instruinent,  to  make  the 
scale  either  for  high  Southern  or  Northern  latitudes. 

It  should  seem,  then,  that  Dr.  Halley  had  procured 
Captain  Johnson  (who  was  Master  of  a  Greenland 

*  To  tills  list  of  credulous  persons  (as  pcrh-ips  they  may  be  con- 
sidered by  some,)  I  shall  bei;;  leave  to  add  the  names  of  Maclaurin 
and  Dr.  Campbell.  The  former  of  these  was  so  persuaded  of  the 
seas  being  open  quite  to  the  Pole,  that  he  hath  not  only  advised  this 
method  of  prosecuting  discoveries,  but,  as  I  have  been  told,  was 
desirous  of  going  the  voyage  himself. 

t  I  have  been  informed,  that  his  shop  was  in  the  Old  Bailey,  and 
that  he  died  about  Miy  years  ago.  Patrick  was  a  great  ringer,  and 
some  of  the  most  celebrated  peals  were  invented  by  him,  more  than 
fifty  years  ago.  He  styled  himself,  in  his  advertisements,  Torri- 
cellian Operator. — Sir  John  Hawkins's  History  «f  Music,  vol.  iv. 
p.  154. 


46  ON  ArrROACiiiNG 

ship)  to  carry  a  thermometer  on  his  voyage  to  Spitz- 
bergen,  and  that  he  fortunately  was  able  to  reach  so 
high  a  degree  of  latitude  as  88®. 

If  the  thermometer  had  been  calculated  only  for 
imaginary  degrees  of  heat  and  cold,  it  would  have 
been  marked  for  the  Equator  and  the  Pole ;  whereas 
it  was  only  regulated  for  88"  of  North  latitude,  which 
Captain  Johnson  therefore  had  as  clearly  reached, 
as  Dr.  Halley  had  the  Equator. 

At  all  events,  Patrick's  Thermometer  must  have 
been  made  under  Dr.  Halley's  inspection ;  and  would 
he  have  permitted  it  to  be  marked  for  88°  of  North 
latitude,  according  to  Captain  Johnson's  voyage,  if 
he  had  disbelieved  his  narrative  ? 

My  third  and  last  instance,  from  any  printed 
authority,  but  in  a  book  which  is  not  commonly  to  be 
met  with,  is  that  of  Captain  Alexander  Cluny,  as  by 
a  map  engraved  under  his  direction,  the  very  spot  i« 
marked  to  the  Westward  of  Spitzbergen,  and  in 
somewhat  more  than  82°  of  North  latitude,  where  he 
saw  neither  land  nor  ice.* 

Before  I  proceed,  however,  to  state  several  other 
instances  of  reaching  high  northern  latitudes,  which 
have  never  appeared  in  print,  and  which  I  have  col- 
lected since  my  last  Paper  on  this  head,  I  must  beg 
the  indulgence  of  the  Society,  whilst  I  lay  before 


*  See  the  American  Traveller,  4lo.  London  1769;  as  also,  the 
Sieur  de  Vaugondy's  Essai  d'une  Carle  Polaire  Arctique,  published 
in  1774;  in  which,  however,  he  lays  down  this  spot  from  Cluny's 
Map,  in  little  more  than  81°,  whereas  it  is  fully  in  82**.  The  Ion* 
gitudc  of  this  spot  is  30°  East  from  Fero. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  47 

them  some  additional  reasons  why  the  Polar  Seas 
may  be  conceived  to  be  navigable.* 

Speculative  geographers  have  supposed,  that  there 
should  be  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  land  and  sea 
in  both  hemispheres,  in  order  to  preserve  the  equi- 
librium of  the  globe. 

It  is  possible,  hideed,  that  this  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  Antarctic  seas  being  more  shallow  than 
those  near  the  North  Pole ;  as  we  do  not  know  this, 
however,  by  the  actual  soundings,  but  are  informed 
by  Captain  Furneaux,  that  there  is  no  land*even  as 
far  as  the  Antartic  Circle,  upon  the  meridian  in  which 
he  sailed,  as  alsoi  that  no  land  was  observed  during 
the  course  of  his  circumnavigation  in  55*^  South  lati- 
tude at  a  medium,  it  seems  necessary,  as  the  quan- 
tity of  land  so  greatly  preponderates  in  the  Northern 
hemisphere,  that  from  North  latitude  80^°  to  the  Pole 
itself  must  be  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  sea.f 

Let  us  now  consider,  whether  such  a  sea  is  proba- 
ble, at  all  times,  in  a  state  of  congelation. 

*  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tooke,  Chaplain  (o 
the  Factory  at  St.  Petersburgh,  dated  December  30,  1774,  which 
he  concludes  in  the  following  manner  : — "  I  have  a  fact  or  two  to 
communicate,  which  seem  to  indicate,  if  not  to  a  certainty,  yet  at 
least  to  a  degree  of  probability,  that  the  sea  is  open  to  the  Pole  the 
year  throughout ;  but  my  paper  will  not  hold  them."  From  the 
accuracy  with  which  several  other  interesting  particulars  arc  stated 
in  this  letter,  I  have  great  reason  to  regret,  that  I  have  not  an  op- 
portunity of  laying  the  facts  alluded  to  before  the  Public,  with  all 
their  circumstances,  as  I  suppose  that  Mr.  Tooke's  information 
came  from  Arcliangel  Seamen.  . 

t  It  is  not  known  that  Captain  Cook  also  found  very  little  land 
during  his  persevering  attempts  to  the  Southward. 


4U  ox  APPROACHING 

I  do  not  know,  whether  it  hath  been  settled  "by 
thermometrical  observations,  that  there  is  any  mate- 
rial diiTerence  between  the  heat  under  the  Equator, 
and  that  which  is  experienced  within  the  Tropics ; 
most  travellers  complain  indefinitely  of  its  excess  in 
such  latitudes. 

As  this  point,  therefore,  seems  not  to  have  been 
settled  by  the  thermometer,  let  us  have  recourse  to 
what  is  found  to  be  the  freezing  point  upon  mountains, 
situate  almost  under  the  Equator,  and  compare  it 
with  the  same  height  on  the  Peak  of  Teneriflfe,  which, 
being  in  North  latitude  28°,  is  five  degrees  to  the 
Northward  of  the  Tropical  limits.  , 

The    French    Academicians    suppose,     that    the 

freezing  point,  at  which  all  vegetation  ceases,  and 

ice  takes  place,  commences  on  Cotopaxi,  at   1411 

toises  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  or,  by  our  measure, 

•  at  the  height  of  about  a  mile  and  three  quarters.* 

Mr.  Edens,  on  the  other  hand,  hath  given  us  a  very 
particular  account  of  what  he  observed  in  going  to 
the  top  of  Teneriflfe  ;t  and  so  far  from  seeing  snow 
or  ice  (except  in  a  cave)  his  coat  was  covered,  during 
the   night,  with   dew,  at   the  very  summit  j   which, 

*  Cotopaxi  is  the  highest  mountsiln  of  the  Ancles,  at  least  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Quito.  Tlie  plain  of  Carabuca,  from  which  it 
rises,  is  1023  toises  above  tlie  level  of  the  sea,  and  the  height  of 
the  mountain  above  this  plain  is  1268  toises,  making  together  2291 
toises.  If  880  toises  therefore  are  deducted  from  2291,  1411 
toises  become  the  height  of  the  freezing  point  upon  this  mountain. 
— See  Ulloa's  Account  of  South  Anaerica. 

t  Philosophical  Transactions  Abridged,  vol.  v.  p.  147.  Sprat's 
History  of  the  Jloyal  Society. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  49 

according  to  Dr.  Heberdeii's  computation,  is  15,396 
feet  high,  or  wants  but  148  yards  of  three  miles.* 

Now,  as  it  is  thus  settled,  that  the  Peak  of  Tene- 
riffe  is  nearly  three  miles  high,  which  exceeds  by 
.jiore  than  a  mile  the  height  of  the  freezing  point  on 
Cotopaxi,  situate  under  the  Equator,  it  should  seem 
that  there  is  no  particular  difference  between  the  heat 
under  the  Equator  and  within  the  Tropics ;  for  if  it 
is  urged,  that  Teneriffe  is  more  surrounded  with  sea 
than  Cotopaxi,  it  must  on  the  other  hand  be  recol- 
lected, that  this  mountain  is  situate  rf  to  the  North- 
ward of  the  Tropic,  at  the  same  time  that  the  sum- 
mit exceeds  the  freezing  point  on  Cotopaxi  by  more 
than  a  mile;  both  which  circumstances  should  ren- 
der it  colder  than  the  freezing  point  on  Cotopaxi. 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  comparison 
seems  to  be,  that,  as  the  heat  varies  so  little  between 
the  Equator  and  the  Tropical  limits,  it  may  differ  as 
little  between  the  Arctic  Circle  and  the  Pole. 

Nothing  hath  been  supposed  to  show  more  strongly 
the  wisdom  of  a  beneficent  Creator,  than  that  every 
part  of  this  globe  should  (taking  the  year  throughout) 
have  an  equal  proportion  of  the  sun's  light. 

It  is  admitted,  that  the  equatorial  parts  have  rather 
too  much  heat  for  the  comforts  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  those  within  the  Polar  Circles  too  little ;  but,  as 
we  know  that  the  Tropical  limits  are  peopled,  it 
should  seem  that  the  two  Polar  Circles  are  equally 


*  See  Hawkcpworth's  voyages,  vol.  ii.  p.  12.  Goats  also  reach 
the  very  summit,  which  must  be  in  search  of  food,  as  they  do  not 
bear  cold  well. 

7 


^  ON  APPROACHING 

destined  for  the  same  purpose ;  or  if  not  for  the 
benefit  of  man,  at  least  for  the  sustenance  of  certain 
animals. 

The  largest  of  these,  in  the  whole  scale  of  Crea- 
tion, is  the  whale ;  which,  though  a  fish,  cannot  live 
long  under  water,  without  occasionally  raising  its 
head  into  another  element,  for  the  purpose  of  respi- 
ration :*  most  other  fish  also  occasionally  approach 
the  surface  of  the  water. 

If  the  ice  therefore  extends  from  North  latitude 
80^°  to  the  Pole,  all  the  intermediate  space  is  denied 
to  the  Spitzbergen  whales,  as  well  perhaps  as  to 
other  fish.  And  is  that  glorious  luminary,  the  sun, 
to  shine  in  vain  for  half  the  year  upon  ten  degrees  of 
latitude  round  each  of  the  Poles,  without  contributing 
either  to  animal  life  or  vegetation  ?  for  neither  can 
take  place  upon  this  dreary  expanse  of  ice. 

If  this  tract  of  sea  also  is  thus  rendered  improper 
for  the  support  of  whales,  these  enormous  fish,  which 
require  so  much  room,  will  be  confined  to  two  or 
three  degrees  of  latitude  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Spitzbergen;  for  all  the  Greenland  Masters  agree, 
that  the  best  fishing  stations  are  from  79°  to  80°,  and 
that  they  do  not  often  catch  them  to  the  Southward. 

I  will  now  ask,  if  the  sea  is  congealed  from  North 
latitude  80i°  quite  to  the  Pole,  when  did  it  thus  begin 
to  freeze,  as  it  is  well  known,  that  a  large  quantity  of 

*  "  Sometimes  the  ice  is  fixed,  when  thei'e  are  but  few  whalea 
seen,  for  underneath  the  ice  they  cannot  breathe." — Martens's  Voy- 
age to  Spitzbergen. 

The  whales,  likewise,  are  supposed  to  come  from  the  North  ;  but 
how  can  this  be,  if  there  is  an  incrusted  sea  over  them  ? 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  51 

sea  water  is  not  easily  forced  to  assume  the  form  of 
ice  ?*  Can  it  be  contended,  that  ten  degrees  of  the 
globe  round  each  Pole  were  covered  with  frozen  sea 
at  the  original  creation  ?t  And  if  this  is  not  insisted 
upon,  can  it  be  supposed,  that,  when  the  surface  of 
the  Polar  Ocean  first  ceased  to  be  liquid,  it  could 
have  afterward  resisted  the  effects  of  winds,  currents, 
and  tides? 

I  beg  leave  also  to  rely  much  upon  the  necessity 
of  the  ice's  yielding  to  the  constant  reciprocation  of 

*  "  There  are  three  kinds  of  ice  in  the  Northern  Seas.  The 
first  is  Hke  melted  snow,  which  is  become  partly  hardened,  is 
more  easily  broken  into  pieces,  less  transparent,  is  seldom  more 
than  six  inches  thick,  and,  when  dissolved,  is  found  to  be  intermixed 
with  salt.  This  first  sort  of  ice  is  the  only  one  which  is  ever  formed 
from  sea  water. 

"  If  a  certain  quantity  of  water,  which  contains  as  much  salt  a* 
sea  water,  is  exposed  to  the  greatest  degree  of  cold,  it  never  becomes 
firm  and  pure  ice,  but  resembles  tallow  or  suet,  whilst  it  preserves  the 
taste  of  salt,  so  that  the  sweet  transparent  ice  can  never  be  formed 
in  the  sea.  If  the  ice  of  the  sea  itself,  therefore,  contined  in  a 
small  vessel  without  any  motion,  cannot  thus  become  true  ice,  much 
less  can  it  do  so  in  a  deep  and  agitated  ocean."'  The  author  hence 
infers,  that  all  the  floating  ice  in  the  Polar  Seas  comes  from  the 
Tartarian  Rivers  and  Greenland,  as  I  have  before  contended. — See 
a  Dissertation  of  Michel  Lomonosof,  translated  from  the  Swedish 
Transactions  of  1752.  Collection  Academique,  tom.  xi.  p,  5.  et  seq., 
4to.  Paris,  1772.  The  Dissertation  is  entitled,  "  £)c  VOrigine  des 
Mollis  de  Glace,  daiis  la  Mcr  du  JVord." 

t  If  there  had  been  a  fixed  barrier  of  ice  from  the  time  of  the 
creation,  extending  from  80i**  to  the  North  Pole,  the  height  of  such 
ice  must  have  been  excessive,  by  the  accumulation  of  frozen  snow 
from  winter  to  winter.  Martens  therefore  observes,  that  the  ice 
mountains  in  Spitzbergen  are  constantly  increasing  by  the  snow  and 
rain  which  falls  freezing,  and  which  seldom  melts  at  the  top. — P.  43. 


52  ON  APPROACHING 

the  latter;  because  no  sea  was  ever  known  to  be 
frozen  but  the  Black  Sea,  and  some  small  parts  of  the 
Baltic,*  neither  of  which  have  any  tides,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  waters  of  both  contain  much  less  salt 
than  those  of  other  seas,  from  the  great  influx  of 
many  fresh  water  rivers.  For  this  last  reason,  it  may 
likewise  be  presumed,  that  the  circumpolar  seas  are 
very  salt,  because  there  is  probably  no  such  influx 
beyond  North  latitude  80°,  Spitzbergen  itself  having 
no  rivers. 

Having  thus  given  some  general  reasons,  why  the 
sea  should  not  be  supposed  to  be  frozen  in  the  ten 
highest  degrees  of  latitude,  I  shall  now  proceed  to 
lay  before  the  Society  several  instances,  which  I 
have  lately  collected,  and  which  prove  that  it  is  not 
so  covered  with  ice  considerably  to  the  North  of  80i°. 

I  shall,  however,  previously  make  two  observ- 
ations ;  the  first  of  which  is,  that  every  instance  of 
exceeding  North  latitude  801°,  as  much  proves  that 
there  is  no  perpetual  barrier  of  ice  in  that  latitude,  as 
if  the  navigator  hath  reached  the  Pole.  The  second 
is,  that  as  four  experienced  Greenland  Masters 
have  concurred  in  informing  me,  that  they  can  see 
what  is  called  the  blink  of  the  ice'\  for  a  degree  before 


*  To  these  perhaps  may  be  added  the  White  Sea. 

t  This  is  described  to  be  an  arch  formed  upon  the  clouds  by  re- 
flection from  the  packed  ice.  Wheie  the  ice  is  fixed  upon  the  sea, 
you  see  a  snow  white  brightness  in  the  skies,  as  if  the  sun  shined, 
for  the  snow  is  reflected  by  the  air  just  as  a  fire  by  night  is,  but  at  a 
distance  you  see  the  air  blue  or  blackish.  Where  there  are  many 
small  ice  fields,  which  are  as  meadows  for  the  seals,  you  see  no 
Uistre  or  brightness  of  the  skies. — Martens's  Voyage  to  Spitzbergen. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  53 

them,  they  never  can  be  off  Hakluyt's  Headland, 
which  is  situate  in  79°  50',  without  observing  this 
eflfect  of  the  ice  upon  the  sky,  if  there  was  a  per- 
petual barrier  at  80?°,  which  is  not  much  more  than 
half  a  degree  from  them,  when  in  that  situation. 
Now  Hakluyt's  Headland  is  what  they  so  perpetually 
take  their  departures  from,  that  it  hath  obtained  the 
name  of  The  Headland  by  way  of  pre-eminence. 

This  mountain  also  is  so  high,  that  it  can  be  dis- 
tinguished at  the  distance  of  a  degree ;  in  such 
instances,  therefore,  which  I  shall  produce,  that  do 
not  settle  the  latitude  by  observation,  whenever  the 
reckoning  depends  upon  the  approach  or  departure 
from  this  Headland,  the  account  receives  the  ad- 
ditional check  of  the  mountain's  being  increased  or 
diminished  gradually  \o  the  eye  of  the  observer. 

My  second  previous  remark  shall  be,  with  regard 
to  all  instances  of  reaching  high  Northern  latitudes, 
for  Avhich  the  authority  of  the  Ship's  Journal  may  be 
required,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  procure  this 
sort  of  evidence,  except  the  voyages  have  been 
recent ;  not  only  for  the  reasons  F  have  given  in  my 
former  Paper,  but  because  I  find,  that  if  the  Ship's 
Journal  is  not  wanted  by  the  owners  in  a  year  or  two 
(which  seldom  happens)  it  is  afterward  considered 
as  waste  paper. 

Without  the  least  impeachment  also  of  the  know- 
ledge in  navigation  of  the  Grecnhind  Masters,  when 
they  are  in  the  actual  pursuit  of  fish,  they  do  not 
trouble  themselves  about  their  longitude  or  latitude ; 
they  are  not  bound  by  their  instructions  to  sail  to  any 
particular  point,  and  their  only  object  is  to  catch  as 


34  ON  APPROACHING 

many  whales  as  possible ;  the  ship's  situation  there- 
fore, at  such  time,  becomes  a  matter  of  perfect  indif- 
ference. It  will  appear,  however,  that  they  not  only 
keep  "their  reckonings,  but  observe,  when  they  are 
not  thus  employed  in  fishing. 

Having  made  these  previous  remarks,  I  shall  now 
proceed  to  lay  before  the  Society  such  instances  of 
navigators  having  penetrated  beyond  801°,  as  I  have 
happened  to  procure  since  the  reading  of  my  former 
Paper  on  this  subject,  in  May  last. 

James  Hutton  (then  belonging  to  the  ship  London, 
Captain  Guy)  was,  thirty  years  ago,  in  North  latitude 
81 2°,  as  both  the  Captain  and  Mate  informed  him; 
but  did  not  observe  himself  A  very  intelligent  sea- 
oflficer  was  so  good  as  to  take  from  him  this  account, 
together  with  the  following  particulars,  which  per- 
haps may  be  interesting  to  Greenland  Navigators. 

Hutton  hath  been  employed  in  the  Whale  Fishery 
nearly  these  forty  years,  during  which  he  hath  been 
several  times  at  the  Seven  Islands,  and  the  Waygat 
Straits.  In  some  of  these  voyages  the  sea  hath  been 
perfectly  clear  from  ice,  and  at  other  times  it  hath 
set  in  so  rapidly  towards  the  Waygat,*  as  to  obhge 
the  vessels  which  happened  to  be  thereabouts  to 
force  all  sail  possible  to  escape  being  inclosed. 

This  hardy  old  tar  likewise  supposes  that  he  hath 
been  farther  up  the  Waygat  than  perhaps  any  person 
now  living;  for  he  was  once  in  a  ship  which  attempted 

*  The  Weighgatt  is  so  called  from  the  wind  which  blows  through 
this  Strait,  (weihen,  to  blow)  because  a  strong  Southwest  wind 
blows  out  of  it.  Another  name  for  it  is  Hindelopen.'^-^ee  Martens's 
Voyage,  p.  27. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  55 

to  pass  through  it,  nor  did  the  Master  desist,  till  they 
shoaled  the  water  to  three  fathoms,  when  the  sea 
was  so  clear,  that  they  could  distinguish  the  bottom 
from  the  deck. 

Mr.  John  Phillips,  now  Master  of  the  Exeter,  but 
then  Mate  of  the  Loyal  Club,  in  the  year  1752, 
reached  North  latitude  81^  and  several  minutes  by 
observation,  which  circumstance  was  confirmed  by 
another  person  on  board  the  Exeter  last  summer,  on 
her  return  from  the  Greenland  Fishery.  Captain 
Phillips  added,  that  it  was  very  common  to  fish  in  such 
latitudes. 

Mr.  George  Ware,  now  living  at  Erith  in  Kent, 
served  as  chief  Mate  in  the  year  1754,  on  board  the 
Sea  Nymph,  Captain  James  Wilson,  when,  at  the 
latter  end  of  June,  they  sailed  through  floating  ice 
from  74°  to  81°;  but  having  then  proceeded  beyond 
the  ice  they  pursued  the  whales  to  82°  15',  which 
latitude  was  determined  by  Mr.  Ware's  own  ob- 
servation. 

As  the  sea  was  now  perfectly  clear,  as  far  as  he 
could  distinguish  with  his  best  glasses,  both  Mr. 
Ware  and  Captain  Wilson  had  a  strong  inclination  to 
push  farther  towards  the  Pole;  but  the  common 
sailors  hearing  of  such  their  intention,  remonstrated, 
that  if  they  should  be  able  to  proceed  so  far,  the  ship 
would  fall  into  pieces,  as  the  Pole  would  draw  all  the 
iron-work  out  of  her. 

On  this  Captain  Wilson  and  Mr.  Ware  desisted,  as 
the  crew  had  these  very  singular  apprehensions; 
especially  as  they  had  no  whales  in  sight  to  the 
Northward,  which  alone  would  justify  the  attempt  to 


56  ON  APPROACHING 

their  owners.*  It  need  scarcely  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  notion  which  prevailed  among  the 
crew  shows,  that  the  common  seamen  on  board  the 
Greenland  ships  conceive,  that  the  sea  is  open  to  the 
Pole ;  they  would  otherwise  have  objected  on  account 
of  the  ice  being  supposed  to  increase.  It  should 
seem  also,  that  the  practicability  of  reaching  the 
Pole  is  a  point  which  they  often  discuss  among 
themselves. 

In  this  same  year  and  months  Mr.  John  Adams  (who 
now  is  master  of  a  flourishing  academy  at  Waltham 
Abbey,  in  Essex)  was  on  board  the  Unicorn,  Captain 
Guy,  when  they  anchored  in  Magdalena  Bay,t  on 
the  Western  coast  of  Spitzbergen  and  North  latitude 
79°  35'. 

They  continued  in  this  Bay  for  three  or  four  days, 
and  then  stood  to  the  Southward,  when  the  wind 
tireshening  from  that  quarter,  but  the  w  eather  foggy, 
they  proceeded  with  an  easy  sail  for  four  days, 
expecting  to  meet  with  fields  of  ice,  to  which  they 
might  make  fast ;  but  they  did  not  encounter  so  much 
as  a  piece  that  floated.  On  the  fifth  day  the  wind 
veered  to  the  Westward,  the  weather  cleared  up,  and 
Mr.  Adams  had  a  good  observation  (the  sun  above 
the  Pole)J  by  which  he  found  himself  three  degrees 

*  This  circumstance  of  not  seeing  any  whales  in  that  direction 
accounts  for  Captain  Guy's  desisting,  in  the  following  instance,  from 
sailing  to  the  Northward,  as  also  in  many  others  which  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  state. 

t  The  Greenlaiid  Masters  mo«t  commonly  call  this  Bay  Mac- 
Helena. 

I  The  old  navigators  to  these  parts  call  this  a  South  Stni . 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  57 

to  the  Northward  of  Hakluyt's  Headland,  or  in  North 
latitude  83°. 

Captain  Guy  now  declared,  that  he  had  never 
been  so  far  to  the  Northward  before,  and  crawled 
up  to  the  maintopmast  head,  accompanied  by  the 
chief  mate,  whilst  the  second  mate,  together  with  Mr. 
Adams,  went  to  the  foretopmast  head,  from  whence^ 
they  saw  a  sea  as  free  from  ice  as  any  part  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  and  it  was  the  joint  opinion  of  them 
all,  that  they  might  have  reached  the  North  Pole. 

The  ship  then  stood  to  the  Southward,  and  twelve 
iiours  afterward  Mr.  Adams  had  a  second  good  ob- 
servation (the  sun  beneath  the  Pole)  when  their  lati- 
tude was  82°  .3'.  In  both  these  observations,  Mr. 
Adams  made  an  allowance  of  5'  for  the  refraction, 
which,  he  says,  was  his  captain's  rule,  who  was  now 
on  his  fifty-ninth  or  sixtieth  voyage  to  the  Greenland 
Seas. 

In  the  year  1756,  Mr.  James  Montgomery,  now  a 
merchant  in  Prescot-Street,  Goodman's  Fields,  but 
then  Master  of  the  Providence,  followed  the  whales 
during  the  month  of  June,  till  he  reached  North  lati- 
tude 83°,  by  observation.  Another  Greenland  Mas- 
ter informs  me,  that  he  remembers  well  the  ice  packed 
much  to  the  Westward,  but  that  the  sea  was  open  to 
the  Northward  during  that  summer. 

In  1762,  David  Boyd,  then  mate  of  the  brig  Betsy, 
was  driven  by  a  gale  of  wind  from  79°  to  82°,  odd 
minutes,  by  observation;  during  all  which  time  he 
was  beset  in  ice.  A  Greenland  Master  has  likewise 
told  me,  that  he  recollects  many  other  ships  were 

8 


55  ON  APPROACHING 

driven  to  the  Northeast  from  their  fisliing  stations 
during  that  season. 

Mr.  Jonathan  Wheatley,  now  Master  of  a  Green- 
land ship,  was  in  1766  off*  Hakluyt's  Headland,* 
whence,  not  meeting  with  success,  he  sailed  North- 
west to  8H°,  in  which  latitude  he  could  see  no  ice  in 
any  direction  whatsoever  from  the  mast  head,  though 
there  was  a  very  heavy  sea  from  the  Northeast. 

Mr.  Wheatley  also  informs  me,  that  whilst  he  was 
off"  the  coast  of  Greenland,  three  Dutch  Captains  told 
him,  that  a  ship  of  their  nation  had  been  in  89*,  and 
they  all  supposed,  that  the  sea  in  such  a  latitude 
might  be  as  free  from  ice  as  where  they  were  fishing. 
This  account  probably  alludes  to  the  Dutch  man  of 
war,  on  board  of  which  Dr.  Dallie  happened  to  be, 
the  circumstances  of  which  voyage  I  have  stated  in 
my  former  Paper. 

This  same  Captain  is  so  thoroughly  persuaded  of 
being  able  to  approach  the  Pole,  that  he  will  attempt 
it  whenever  an  opportunity  offers  of  doing  it,  without 
prejudice  to  his  owners.  On  such  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, he  would  not  wish  a  larger  vessel  than  one 
of  ninety  tons,t  nor  more  than  ten  hands.  I  find, 
indeed,  that  this  is  the  size  of  the  ships  in  which 
most  of  the  early  navigators  attempted  to  proceed  far 
to  the  Northward. 

*  He  was  then  on  board  a  ship  called  the  Grampus. 

t  Clipperton  reached  China  in  a  bark  not  much  exceeding  ten 
tons,  as  did  also  Funnell,  in  another  such  vessel. — Callander,  vol. 
iii.  p.  '223. 


THE  NORTH  POLK. 


^ 


In  1769,  Mr.  John  Thevv,  now  Master  of  a  Green- 
land Ship  called  the  Rising  Sun,  was  in  North  lati- 
tude 82°,  and  one  hundred  leagues  to  the  West  of 
Hakluyt's  Headland.  The  circumstances  by  which 
he  supposed  himself  to  have  been  in  this  situation, 
were  stated  to  me  in  the  presence  of  a  very  able  sea 
officer,  who  told  me  afterward  that  he  was  perfectly 
satisfied  with  the  accuracy  of  his  account. 

Captain  John  Clarke,  of  the  Sea.  Horse,  at  the 
latter  end  of  June,  1773,  sailed  from  the  Headland 
North  Northeast  to  8U°,  which  he  computed  by  his 
run  from  the  Headland  in  eighteen  hours,  having  lost 
sight  of  it.  At  this  time  there  was  an  open  sea  to  the 
Northward,  and  such  a  swell  from  the  Northeast, 
that  the  ship  would  not  stay,  being  under  her  double 
reefed  topsails,  whilst  the  wind  blew  fresh. 

During  this  run  from  the  Headland,  Mr.  Clarke  fell 
in  with  Captain  Robhison  in  81°  20',  whom  I  men- 
tioned in  my  former  Paper  as  having  reached  81^ 
in  the  same  month  and  year,  by  a  very  accurate 
observation. 

This  same  Captain  Robinson,  on  the  28th  of  June 
last,  passed  by  Hakluyt's  Headland,  lying  off  and  on 
for  several  days,  during  which  he  was  sometimes  a 
degree  to  the  Northward  of  it,  and  till  the  20th  of 
July  following,  there  was  no  obstruction  to  his  pro- 
ceeding Northward ;  to  which,  however,  he  had  no 
inducement,  as  he  caught  two  large  whales  in  this 
latitude.* 

*  The*  Second  Part  of  Martens's  Voyage  (who  received  certain 
queries  from  the  Royal  Society)  begins  almost  by  saying,  "We 
sailed  to  the  81«t  degree,  and  no  ship  ventured  farther  that  year," 
vh.  1671. 


60  OS  APPROACHING 

Captain  John  Reed,  of  the  Rockingham,  also  in 
July  last,  pursued  some  whales  fifteen  leagues  to  the 
Northward  of  the  Headland,  and  confirms  Captain 
Robinson's  last  account,  by  saying,  he  could  then  see 
no  ice  from  his  mast  head. 

Captain  Reed  was  brought  up  in  the  Greenland 
fishery,  and  remembers  well,  that  whilst  on  board  his 
father's  ship,  the  Thistle,  the  mate  told  him,  that 
they  had  reached  81°  42',  when  there  was  indeed  a 
good  deal  of  ice,  but  full  room  to  sail  in  any  direction. 
Mr.  Reed  likewise  hath  informed  me,  that  about 
fifteen  years  ago,  a  Dutch  Captain  (whose  name  was 
Hans  Derrick)  told  him,  whilst  they  w  ere  together  in 
the  Greenland  Seas,  that  he  had  been  in  North  lati- 
tude 86°  when  there  were  only  some  small  pieces  of 
floating  ice   to   be   seen.     Hans  Derrick   moreover 
added,  that  there  were  then  five  ships  in  company, 
which  took,  one  with  another,  eighteen  small  whales. 
I  have  great  reason  to  expect  several  other  instan- 
ces of  the  same  kind,  in  a  short  time,  from  the  dif- 
ferent ports  of  this  kingdom  where  there  is  any  con- 
siderable  Greenland   trade:   I  shall   not,   however, 
trouble  the  Society  with  them,  till  I  know  whether 
they  would  wish  any  farther  information  on  this  head. 
I  shall    now   recapitulate   the   different  latitudes 
which  have  been  reached  by  the  several  navigators 
whose    names   I   have   mentioned    in   this   and   my 
former  Paper.     I  shall  also  take  credit  for  nearly  a 
degree  to  the  Northward  of  their  several  situations, 
because  the  blink  or  glare  of  the  packed  ice  is  to  be 
distinguished  at  this  distance,  when  the  weather  is 
tolerably  fair. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  61 

Captain  John  Reed 8U*  45'. 

Captain  Thomas  Robinson  (for  three  weeks 

together) 81°. 

Captain  John  Phillips 01    odd  mi. 

James  Hutton,  Jonathan  Wheatley,  Thomas 

Robinson,  John  Clarke  (four  instances)  81°  30'. 

Captain  Cheyne  and  Thew  (two  instances)  .  82°. 

Cluny  and  David  Boyd  (two  instances)    .  .      82°  odd  mi. 

Mr.  George  Ware 82°  15' 

Mr.  John  Adams  and  Mr.  James  Montgomery 

(two  instances) 83°. 

Mr.   James  Watt,  Lieutenant   in   the   Royal 

Navy - 83°  30'. 

Five  ships  in  company  with  Hans  Derrick  .  .  86°- 

Captain  Johnson  and  Dr.  Dallie  (two  instan- 
ces ;  to  which,  perhaps,  may  be  added 
Captain  Monson,  as  a  third) 88". 

Relation  of  the  two  Dutch  Masters  to  Captain 

Goulden* 89°. 

Dutch  relation  to  Mr.  Grey     89°  30'. 

DAIJ^ES  BARRIJS^GTO.V,  F.R.S. 

*  This  instance,  however,  hath  before  been  relied  upon,  though 
never,  perhaps,  circumstantially  stated,  but  by  Captain  Wood. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

January  8,  1775. 

XlAVING  procured  the  three  following  instancey 
befoce  the  reading  of  my  Paper  was  finished,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  add  them  in  a  Postscript. 

In  Harris's  Voyages*  is  the  following  passage : — 
"  By  the  Dutch  Journals  they  get  into  North  latitude 
08°  56',  and  the  sea  open." 

I  have,  within  these  few  days,  asked  Dr.  Campbell, 
the  very  able  compiler  of  these  voyages,  upon  what 
authority  he  inserted  this  account  ?  who  informs  me, 
that  he  received  it  from  Holland  about  thirty  years 
ago,  as  being  an  extract  from  the  Journals  produced 
to  the  States  General  in  1665,  on  the  application  for 
a  discovery  of  the  Northeast  passage  to  Japan,  which 
was  frustrated  by  the  Dutch  East-India  Company. 

In  the  Journal  des  Sgavans^  for  the  month  of  October 
1774,t  is  likewise  the  following  paragraph: — 

"  To  these  instances,  produced  by  Mr.  Barrington" 
(of  navigators  having  reached  high  Northern  lati- 
tudes,) "  our  countrymen"  {viz.  the  Dutch)  "  could 
add  many  others.  An  able  officer  in  the  English 
service  hath  in  his  custody  the  Journals  of  a  Green- 
land ship,  wherein  he  hath  remarked,  that  in  the 
month  of  May  he  had  penetrated  as  far  as  82^  20', 
when  the  sea  was  open." 

"^  Vol.  ii.  page  453.  \  Part  ii.  pasro.  50'^. 


64 


ON  APPROACHING 


My  third  and  last  instance  is  that  of  Captain 
Bateson,  who  sailed  in  1773  from  Liverpool,  in  a 
ship  called  the  Whale,  on  the  Greenland  Fishery, 
and  who,  on  June  14,  reached  North  latitude  82°  15', 
computed  by  his  run  back  to  Hakluyt's  Headland,* 
As  this  happened  so  recently.  Captain  Bateson  (as 
well  as  many  of  the  olher  Masters,  whose  accounts  I 
have  before  mentioned)  hath  his  Journal  to  produce, 
if  it  should  be  required. 

This  seems  to  be  the  strongest  confirmation  of  both 
Captain  Robinson  and  Captain  Clarke's  having  been, 
during  this  same  year  and  month,  in  8H°;  as  also  of 
their  having  met  each  other  in  81°  20',  according  to 
what  I  have  already  stated. 

I  must  not  lose  this  same  opportunity  of  laying 
before  the  Society  the  information  whicli  I  have  just 
now  received  from  M.  de  Buffon,  in  relation  to  what 
I  have  cited  from  his  Natural  History  of  Captain 
Monson's  having  reached  North  latitude  88°,  "  as  he 
was  fold  by  persons  of  credit.'''' 

Upon  my  taking  the  liberty  to  inquire,  who  those 
persons  of  credit  ivere  ?  M.  de  BufTon  refers  me  to  Dr. 
Nathan  Hickman,  M'ho,  in  17:]0,  travelled  as  one  of 
Dr.  Ratcliflfs  fellows  ;t  and  who  supposed  that  Cap- 
tain Monson's  Journal  might  have  been  at  that  time 
procured  in  England.  M.  de  Buflfon  also  recollects, 
that  a  Dutchman  was  then  present,  and  confirmed 
the  account. 

*  His  inducement  to  proceed  so  far  North  was  the  pursuit  of  whales. 
I  have  shown  the  extracts  from  Captain  Bateson's  Journal  to  a  very 
able  sea  officer,  who  is  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  accuracy  of  it. 

t  He  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1730. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  65 


ADDITIONAL  PAPEKS 

FROM 

HULL. 

VV  HILST  I  was  waiting  in  expectation  of  several 
additional  instances  of  Dutch  ships,  which  had  been 
in  high  Northern  latitudes,  I  received  the  followino; 
answers  to  certain  Queries  relative  to  the  Greenland 
Seas  from  a  very  eminent  Merchant  of  Hull,  and 
which  he  is  so  obliging  as  to  permit  me  to  lay  before 
the  public. 

D.  B . 

March  31,   1775. 

--»>©«- 

I. 

FROM  CAPTAIN  JOHN  HALL, 

OF 

THE  KING  OF  PRUSSIA. 

First  Query.  How  near  hath  any  ship  approached 
the  Pole  } 

Answer.  I  have  known  ships  go  into  the  latitude 
©f  84°  North,  and  did  not  hear  of  any  difficulty  they 

9 


(JG  ON   APPROACHING 

met  with ;  but  it  is  not  often  that  the  ice  will  permit 

them  to  go  so  far  North. 

N.  B.  On  inquiring  of  Captain  Hall  what  ships  he 
had  known  proceed  so  far?  He  replied,  they 
were  some  Dutch  ships  he  heard  had  done  so, 
but  loiew  no  particulars. 

Second  Q.  When  are  the  Polar  Seas  most  free 
from  ice  ? 

A.  The  seas  are  most  incumbered  with  ice  from 
about  the  1st  of  September  to  the  1st  of  June  follow- 
ing; and,  in  consequence,  between  the  1st  of  June 
and  September,  the  ice  lieth  farthest  from  Spitz- 
bergen.  And  I  know  no  other  precaution  to  be  taken, 
respecting  the  Pole,  than  that  they  must  watch  the 
opportunity  when  the  ice  lieth  farthest  from  the  land. 

Third  Q.  How  far  to  the  Southward  have  you 
iirst  seen  ice? 

A.  In  the  space  of  twenty  years  I  have  twice 
known  that  we  met  with  the  ice  in  the  latitude  of 
74°  30'  North,  and  could  not  find  a  passage  to  the 
Northward  till  the  month  of  July,  and  then  got  into 
tlie  latitude  of  78°  with  much  difficulty,  in  running 
through  the  openings  of  great  bodies  of  ice;  and 
some  years  we  find  a  passage  to  the  latitude  79  and 
80°  North,  without  much  difficulty  from  the  ice.  Some 
years  I  have  known  ships  go  round  the  North  part  of 
vSpitzbergen,  and  so  come  out  between  Nova  Zembia 
and  the  South  part  of  Spitzbergen ;  but  this  passage 
is  seldom  to  be  found  free  from  ice. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  G7 

Fourth  Q.  From  what  quarter  is  the  wind  coldest 
whilst  off  Spitzbergcn? 

A.  Northerly  and  East  Northeast  winds  are  most 
frosty;  but  snow  and  frost  we  have  very  common 
with  all  winds,  except  during  part  of  June,  July,  and 
August.  If  the  winds  be  Southerly  the  weather  is 
milder,  but  subject  to  snow,  sleet,  and  thick  weather. 
The  winds,  currents,  and  the  ice,  are  very  variable. 

The  opinion  of  the  old  seamen  is,  that  we  may 
proceed  farther  North  than  ever  has  been  yet 
attempted  ;  but  this  must  be  done  with  caution.  An 
opportunity  is  to  be  watched  for  in  those  seas.  The 
most  likely  time  for  such  discoveries  to  be  made  is  in 
the  months  of  July  and  August,  when  the  ice  is  most 
commonly  farthest  from  the  land  ;  but  some  years  not 
to  be  found  open  at  all  from  the  land.  And  when  it 
is  open,  they  must  observe  the  ice  to  lay  a  long  way 
from  the  North  part  of  Spitzbergcn ;  for  I  ha^  c 
known  ships  that  made  attempts  to  go  to  the  North- 
ward, and  before  they  returned  back  the  it^  set  in 
with  the  land,  so  that  they  have  been  obliged  to 
leave  the  ships  to  the  East  of  Spitzbergcn. 
N.  B.     The  ice  always  sets  in  with  the  land  the  back 

of  the  year. 

n. 

FROM  CAPTAIN  HUMPHRY  FORD, 

Ol 

THE  MANCHESTER. 

First.  I  was  once  as  high  as  the  latitude  SV  30' 
North,  in  the  ship  Dolphin  of  Newcastle,  in  the  year 


68  ON  APPROACHINe 

1759  or  60,  and  have  been  several  times  since  as  high 
as  the  latitude  81°  in  the  ships  Annabella  and  Man^ 
Chester,  in  which  latitude  I  never  met  with  any  un- 
common circumstances,  but  such  as  I  have  met  with 
in  the  latitudes  75,  76,  77,  78,  and  79°;  if  lo  the 
Westward,  I  was  commonly  incumbered  with-  large 
quantities  of  ice. 

Second.  I  suppose  that  the  Greenland  Seas  are 
most  incumbered  with  ice  in  the  months  of  Decem- 
ber, January,  February,  and  March ;  for  in  the  latter 
part  of  April,  and  the  first  of  May,  the  ice  generally 
begins  to  separate  and  open ;  and  in  the  months  of 
June  and  July  we  generally  find  the  Greenland  Seas 
most  clear  of  ice. 

Third.  The  only  precaution  to  be  taken,  in  order 
to  proceed  towards  the  Pole,  is  to  fit  out  two  strong 
ahips  that  are  handy  and  sail  fast,  well  equipped,  and 
secured*  in  the  manner  of  those  that  are  generally 
sent  to  Greenland  on  the  Whale  Fishery.  Such 
ships  should  be  manned  with  about  forty  able  seamen 
in  each,  and  victualled  for  about  eighteen  months  or 
two  years,  and  be  entirely  under  the  command  of 
some  expert,  able,  and  experienced  seaman,  who  has 
frequented  those  seas  for  some  time  past.  They 
should  sail  from  England  about  the  middle  of  April, 
in  order  to  be  in  with  the  edge  of  the  ice  about  the 
10th  of  May,  when  it  begins  to  separate  and  open. 

Fourth.     There  is  not  the  least  reason  to  suppose, 
that  the  seas  to  the  West,  Northwest,  and  North  of 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  69 

Spitzbcrgen  are  covered  with  permanent  and  per- 
petual ice,  so  as  never  to  be  opened  by  the  operation 
of  tJie  winds ;  for  daily  experience  shows  us,  that  a 
Northerly  wind,  when  of  any  long  duration,  opens 
and  separates  the  ice,  so  as  to  admit  the  ships  going 
amongst  it  in  sundry  places  to  a  very  high  latitude,  if 
attempted. 

N.  B.  1  never  was  to  the  Eastward  of  Spitzbergen; 
but  am  of  opinion,  that  the  ice  is  much  the  same 
there  as  to  the  North  and  Northwest  of  Spitz- 
bergen. 

I  generally  find,  that  Northerly  winds  bring  frost 
and  snow ;  on  the  conti'ary,  Southerly  winds  bring 
mild  weather  and  rain ;  but  none  of  those  winds 
appear  to  be  periodical,  except  close  in  with  tlie 
land,  called  Fair  Foreland,  where  I  gf'nerally  find 
the  winds  in  the  months  of  June  and  July  to  blow 
mostly  from  South  Southwest,  and  very  often  exces- 
sive strong. 

It  is  my  o})inion.  by  observing  the  above,  that  in 
some  years  ships  might  sail  very  nigh  the  Pole;  if 
not,  tlie  impracticability  must  arise  from  the  large 
quantity  of  ice  that  lies  in  those  seas. 


III. 
FROM  CAPTAIN  RALPH  DALE, 

OF 

THE  ANN  AND  ELIZABETH. 

1  am  willing  to  give  you  my  opinion,  in  regard  to 
the  Queries  received  of  yon,  so  far  as  my  observa- 
tions will  justify. 


70  ON  APPROACHING 

First.  In  the  year  1773,  I  sailed  North  81°,  when 
I  was  much  incommoded  with  large  fields  of  ice,  but 
the  air  was  not  sensibly  different  there  from  what  I 
found  it  a  few  jiiore  degrees  Southerly. 

Second.  I  have  for  many  years  used  the  Green- 
land Fishery ;  and  have,  by  experience,  found  those 
seas  the  least  incumbered  with  ice  betwixt  the  fore- 
part of  May  till  July. 

Third.  The  same  year  I  sailed  to  the  latitude 
above  mentioned,  I  found  in  May,  to  the  West  of 
Spitzbergen,  a  fine  open  sea,  the  wind  then  blowing 
Southwest,  and  the  sea  (as  far  as  I  could  observe 
from  the  mast-head)  was  little  incumbered  with  ice, 
which  fully  convinced  me  that  there  was  a  probability 
of  proceeding  to  a  very  high  latitude. 

Fourth.  I  have  observed,  that  let  the  wind  blow 
from  what  quarter  it  will,  it  is  at  times  impregnated 
with  frost,  snow,  &c. ;  but  when  most  so  I  am  not 
able  to  determine.  As  for  rain,  I  do  not  recollect 
ever  seeing  any  there.  The  weather  I  have  generally 
found  mildest  when  the  wind  blows  Southerly.  As 
for  periodical  winds,  I  do  not  suppose  there  are  any 
in  Greenland. 


THE  NORTH  POLF,.  71 

IV. 

FROM  CAPTAIN  JOHN  GREENSHAW. 

e 

In  regard  to  the  Queries  sent  to  me,  all  I  have  to 
say  is,  that  if  a  passage  to  the  North  Pole  is  ever  to 
be  accomplished,  my  opinion  is,  it  must  be  obtained 
by  going  betwixt  Greenland  and  Nova  Zembla,  as  I 
myself  have  been  to  the  Westward  of  Greenland,  and 
reached  so  far  to  the  Northward  as  82*'  of  North  lati- 
tude, and  to  the  Nortli  and  Northwest  of  that,  found 
nothing  but  a  solid  body  of  ice :  my  opinion,  there- 
fore, is,  that  it  is  impossible  ever  to  obtain  a  passage 
that  way.  Captain  John  Cracroft,  in  the  South  Sea 
Company's  time,*  was  once  so  far  as  83**  North  lati- 
tude, and  to  the  Northward  of  Greenland,  and  met 
with  nothing  but  a  solid  field  of  ice.  And  in  regard 
to  the  winds  and  weather,  it  freezes  continually;  but 
the  wind  from  the  Southward  dotii  commonly  bring 
rain  and  thick  foggy  weather,  which  is  chiefly  in  the 
latter  end  of  June  and  July.  If  you  are  to  the  North- 
ward and  Westward  of  Greenland  the  wind  from  the 
Northwest  and  North  Northwest,  doth  always  open 
the  ice ;  but  at  the  same  time,  if  it  come  to  blow 
any  time  from  that  quarter,  packs  it  close  in  with  the 
land ;  and  the  winds  from  the  Southward  have  the 
contrary  ellect. 

*  The  South  Sea  Company  sent  a  small  DUQiber  of  ships,  for 
about  nine  years,  on  the  Greenland  Fishery. 


72  ON  APPROACHIXO 


THE  QUERIES  ANSWERED 

BY 

ANDREW  FISHER, 

MASTER  OF  A  GREENLAND  SHIP  AT  HULL, 

Who  has  been  txcentij-four  voijages  from  England  to  the  Greenland  Sefrn. 

First.  Said  Andrew  Fisher  says,  that  in  the  year 
1746,  being  on  board  the  ship  Ann  and  Ehzabeth 
from  London,  on  a  voyage  to  the  Greenland  Seas,  ho 
steered  from  Hakluyt's  Headland  in  Spitzbergen 
North  and  Northwest  in  clear  water  till  they  were  in 
latitude  82"*  34',  where  they  met  with  a  loose  pack  of 
ice,  and  made  their  fishery,  or  otherwise  they  might 
have  got  through  that  loose  ice,  and  doubt  not,  but 
that  they  might  have  gone  considerably  farther 
North;  they  returned,  however,  in  clear  water  to 
Spitzbergen. 

Second.  Best  seasons  of  the  year  are,  to  be  at  or 
near  Spitzbergen  from  the  15th  of  May  to  the  1st  of 
June,  though  the  years  differ,  and  the  laying  of  the 
ice  exceedingly :  some  years  it  is  not  possible  to  get 
North  of  80'' ;  at  other  times  you  may  meet  with  very 
little  ice,  which  is  chiefly  o\^  ing  to  the  weather  in 
winter,  and  the  winds  in  April  and  May. 

Third.  There  is  not  any  reason  to  suppose,  that 
there  is  any  permanent  ice,  either  North  or  West  of 
Spitzbergen,  so  far  as  90°;  and  it  hath  been  always 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  73 

found,  by  able  and  experienced  navigators,  that 
there  is  not  near  the  quantity  of  ice,  nor  so  liable  to 
set  fast  to  the  North  of  Spitzbergen,  as  there  is  to 
the  South  of  80°  as  far  as  74°,  owing  to  the  continent 
of  America  (called  Gallampus  Land  by  the  sailors) 
and  Spitzbergen,  which  makes  a  narrow  passage  in 
proportion  to  what  it  is  to  the  North  of  Spitzbergen. 
The  land  of  America  is  sometimes  seen  by  our 
Greenland  Traders  from  latitude  74°  to  76°;  and,  as 
it  is  not  seen  any  farther  North,  is  supposed  to  round 
away  to  the  Northwest,  which  makes  it  imagined  by 
many,  that  there  is  not  any  land  near  the  Pole. 

Fourth.  South  winds  bring  most  snow;  North 
winds  bring  frost ;  but  that  is  in  the  month  of  April 
and  two-thirds  of  May;  after  that  time,  to  the  1st  or 
10th  of  July,  it  is  in  general  mild,  fine,  clear,  sunshine 
weather,  and  winds  variable ;  after  that  again,  often 
thick  fogs  and  high  winds. 

Fifth.  It  is  very  possible,  by  steering  North  or 
North  Northeast  by  the  ship's  compass,  (if  it  can  be 
so  contrived  as  to  have  the  card  on  the  needle  steady, 
and  the  winds  prove  favourable,)  with  a  little  perse- 
verance, a  ship  may  get  near  the  Pole,  if  they  do  not 
meet  with  rocks. 


VI. 

SIR, 

In  the  year  1766,  trade  being  dull,  I  fitted  a 
rihip  at  my  sole  expense  to  the  Greenland  Seas ;  and 

10 


74  ON  APPROACHING 

the  said  ship  returned  with  one  fish,  eleven  feet  bone. 
Finding  the  trade  could  be  conducted  belter  in  pri- 
vate hands  than  a  company's,  I  was  induced  to  send 
a  second  ship  in  1767,  and  as  I  had  other  concerns 
in  shipping,  thouglit  it  most  prudent  (being  brought 
up  to  the  sea,  and  having  made  an  easy  fortune  from 
it)  to  go  a  voyage  to  the  Greenland  Seas,  to  see  with 
my  own  eyes  what  chance  there  might  be  of  making 
or  losing  a  fortune.  So  sailed  from  Hull  the  14th 
day  of  April,  in  my  ship  British  Queen,  m  ith  an  old 
experienced  Master,  and  on  the  24th  and  25th  of 
April  was  in  the  latitude  of  72°,  catching  seals  amongst 
great  quantities  of  loose  ice.  As  we  did  not  choose 
to  stay  in  that  latitude,  we  made  the  best  of  our  way 
North ;  and  after  saihng  through  loose  ice,  which  is 
commonly  the  case,  about  the  6th  of  May  we  were 
as  far  North  as  latitude  80"^  (which  is  near  what  the 
Masters  call  afisking  latitude)  and  about  fifteen  leagues 
West  of  Hakluyt's  Headland.  I  found  the  farther 
North  the  less  quantity  of  ice ;  and  from  the  inquiry 
I  made,  both  from  the  English  and  Dutch,  which  was 
very  considerable,  there  is  a  great  probability  of 
ships  going  to  the  Pole,  if  not  stopped  by  meeting 
land  or  rocks.  Jt  appeared  to  me,  that  the  narrowest 
place  in  those  seas  was  betwixt  Spitzbergen  and  the 
American  shore,  where  the  current  is  observed  to 
come  always  from  the  North,  which  fills  this  narrow 
place  with  ice,  but  in  general  loose  and  floating  in 
the  summer,  though  I  believe  congealed  and  perma- 
nent in  winter.  Those  from  whom  I  inquired  inform- 
ed me,  that  the  sea  was  abundantly  clearer  to  the 
North  of  Spitzbergen,  and  the  farther  North,   the 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  75 

clearer.  This  aeems  to  prove  a  wide  ocean  and  a 
great  opening  to  the  North,  as  the  current  comes 
from  thence,  that  fills  this  passage  as  aforesaid.  The 
best  method  of  reaching  the  highest  latitude,  in  my 
opinion,  is,  to  hire  two  vessels  of  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  tons  burthen  each,  and  if  done  on  a  frugal 
scheme,  the  same  ships  might  be  fitted  for  the  whale 
fishery,  and  premiums  given  both  for  tlie  use  of  the 
ship  and  crew,  in  proportion  to  their  approach  to  the 
Pole,  which,  for  many  circumstances  that  may  inter- 
vene, might  be  two  or  three  years  before  they  could 
complete  their  wishes.  And  it  is  more  likely  they 
might  make  their  fishery  sooner  than  to  the  South- 
ward; as,  if  they  met  with  ice,  the  fish  would  be 
undisturbed ;  if  clear  water  and  a  good  wind,  they 
very  soon  might  reach  the  Pole.  What  I  mean  by 
two  vessels  is,  one  to  foresail  the  other  at  the  dis- 
tance of  three  or  four  leagues,  as  the  latter  may 
avoid  the  dangers  the  first  might  run  into ;  and  to  be 
always  ready,  on  seeing  and  hearing  proper  signals, 
to  aid  and  assist,  and  by  that  means  secure  a  retreat. 
I  am  also  of  opinion,  that  such  ships  being  sent  on 
discoveries  are  much  more  likely  to  succeed  than  his 
Majesty's  ships  and  officers.  The  above  hints  I  have 
pointed  out  for  your  consideration ;  and,  if  I  can  be 
of  any  farther  service,  may  command, 

Sir, 

Your  most  humble  Servant, 

SAM.  STANDIDGE 

HulhMarrh4,  Ml't. 


76  O.N  APPROACHING 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  laying  before  the  Public 
the  following  letter  from  Captain  Marshall,  Master  of 
a  Greenland  ship,  to  Captain  Heath  of  the  41st 
Regiment,  who  formerly  made  two  voyages  to 
Spitzbergen. 

SIR, 

In  compliance  with  your  request  of  Wednes- 
day last,  I  acquaint  you,  that  six  years  ago  I  was  as 
high  as  82°  30'  North  latitude,  by  observation,  which 
is  the  highest  I  have  ever  been  in ;  at  that  time  I  was 
Mate  of  the  Royal  Exchange  Greenlandman,  of  New- 
castle. I  do  not  know  of  any  one  who  has  been  in  a 
higher  degree ;  but  it  has  been  reported  at  Newcastle 
(with  what  truth  I  cannot  say)  that  Captain  Green- 
shaw,  of  London,  had  told  his  friends,  that  he  had 
been  as  high  North  as  04°. 

The  Dutch,  I  have  been  informed,  have  proceeded 
to  83°  30';  but  I  have  it  only  by  hearsay. 

In  respect  to  your  second  Query,  I  remember,  that 
about  five  years  since,  when  I  was  Master  of  the 
above-mentioned  ship,  I  was  in  81°  North  latitude, 
by  observation,  when  there  was  a  clear  sea  to  the 
Northward,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  from  the  mast 
head ;  and  I  could  not  help  observing  to  my  people, 
that  if  it  had  happened  that  we  were  then  upon  dis- 
covery, we  might  have  had  a  fine  run  to  the  North, 
as  the  wind  blew  fresh  at  South.  The  like  clear  sea 
i  have  observed  sevieral  times  during  the  time  I  have 
been  in  the  Greenland  service,  which  is  now  about 
twenty-one  years.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  a  navi- 
gator might  reach  a  higher  latitude  than  I  have  been 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  77 

in,  provided  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  cur- 
rents and  the  ice,  (for  much  depends  thereon,)  and 
took  the  advantage  of  a  favourable  season.  1  liavc 
remarked,  that  when  the  frost  has  been  severe  in 
England,  and  to  the  Southward,*  there  has  been  a 
great  deal  less  ice  to  the  Northward  the  ensuing  sum- 
mer than  usual ;  and  the  weather  has  been  remarka- 
bly fine  in  Greenland.  I  have,  for  this  reason,  great 
expectations  that  the  approaching  season  will  pro- 
duce a  successful  fishery,  and  that  it  will  also  aflford 
an  opportunity  for  a  trial  to  reach  the  Pole.t 

But  the  greatest  difficulty  attending  a  navigator  in 
very  high  latitudes,  is  how  to  get  back  again,  for. 
should  he  be  beset  there  in  the  ice,  his  situation 
would  be  very  dangerous  ;  for  he  miglit  be  .detained 
a  long  time,  if  not  for  the  whole  winter.  I  speak  this 
from  experience,  for  I  was  once  beset  for  three 
months,  and  was  given  up  for  lost,  and  with  difficully 
got  out. 

*  I  conceive  that  this  arises  Iroat  the  ice  becoming  of  a  greater 
thickness  during  such  severe  winters,  and  consequently  cannot  be  ?o 
soon  broken  up,  or  observed  by  the  Greenland  ships,  which  return 
to  the  Southward,  before  the  ice  can  have  floated  to  them  in  thp 
Spitzbergen  Seas. 

t  I  am  sorry  to  have  been  informed,  since  the  Bill  for  promoting 
Discoveries  passed,  that  the  attempts  to  penetrate  to  the  Northward 
will  not  be  so  frequent  as  I  had  flattered  myself;  because,  most  of 
the  Greenland  vessels  being  ensured,  if  any  accident  should  happen 
to  a  ship  which  is  not  prosecuting  the  Whale  Fishery,  the  owner* 
will  not  be  entitled  to  recover. 


78  ON  APPROACHING 

Any  farther  information  in  respect  to  the  land,  the 
curt'ents,  ice,  or  other  particulars,  you  may  wish  to 
have,  I  shall  very  readily  communicate  it,  and  am, 
Sir, 

Your  very  humble  Servant,    * 

JAMES  MARSHALL. 

j\'o.  5,  Spring-Street,  Shadwell, 

February  25,  1776.  k 

Captain  Heath,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  this 
communication,  also  informs  me,  that  on  the  15th 
of  December,  1777,  he  minuted  the  following  particu- 
lars from  a  person  employed  in  the  whale  fishery. 

"That  being  on  board  the  Prince  Frederick  of 
Liverpool  in  1765,  commanded  by  James  Bisbrown, 
he  reached  the  latitude  of  83°  40',  where  he  was 
beset  in  ice  for  three  weeks,  to  the  Southward,  but 
that  he  saw,  during  this  time,  an  open  sea  to  the 
North." 

The  Astronomer  Royal  having  been  so  good  as  to 
furnish  me  with  the  following  memorandum,  which  he 
made  at  the  time  it  bears  date,  I  here  subjoin  it,  as 
a  well-authenticated  instance  of  a  navigator's  having 
reached  841°  of  Northern  latitude. 

"Mr.  Stephens,  who  went  many  voyages  to  the 
East  Indies,  and  made  much  use  of  the  lunar  method 
of  finding  the  longitude,  in  which  he  is  very  experts 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  79 

tells  me,  this  16th  of  March,  1773,  that  he  was  form- 
erly two  voyages  on  the  Greenland  fishery ;  that,  in 
the  second,  in  the  year  1754,  he  was  driven  oflTSpitz- 
bergen,  together  with  a  Dutch  ship,  by  a  South 
Southeast  wind.  North  Northwesterly  by  compass  into 
latitude  84|°,  or  within  5i°  of  the  Pole,  in  which  lati- 
tude he  was  near  the  end  of  the  month  of  May.  They 
saw  no  land  after  leaving  Hackluyt's  Headland  (or 
the  Northernmost  part  of  Spitzbergen,)  and  were 
back  in  the  month  of  June.  Did  not  find  the  cold 
excessive,  and  used  little  more  than  common  cloth- 
ing; met  witif  but  little  ice,  and  the  less  the  far- 
ther they  went  to  the  Northward :  met  with  no  drift- 
wood. It  is  always  clear  weather  with  a  North  wind, 
and  thick  weather  with  a  Southerly  wind ;  neverthe- 
less they  could  take  the  sun's  altitude  for  the  latitude 
most  days.  The  sea  is  quite  smooth  among  the  ice, 
as  in  the  river  Thames,  and  so  they  also  found  it  to 
the  North  of  Spitzbergen.  Met  with  no  ice  higher 
than  the  ship's  gunnel.  Imagines  it  would  hardly 
have  been  colder  under  the  Pole  than  the}'^  expe- 
rienced it;  although  he  thinks  the  cold  rather 
increased  on  going  Northward.  Thinks  the  currents 
are  very  variable,  and  have  no  certain  or  constant 
direction.  Says  he  has  often  tasted  the  ice,  when 
the  sea  water  has  been  let  to  run  or  dry  off  it,  and 
always  found  it  fresh.  That  the  sea  water  will  freeze 
against  the  ship's  bows  and  rigging,  but  he  never 
saw  it  freeze  in  the  ship.  That  it  never  freezes  in 
the  pumps.  A  little  piece  of  ice  detained  under  a 
large  piece  of  ice,  when  it  gets  loose  from  it  and 
comes  up  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  is  very  danger-^ 


80  ON  APPROACHING 

ous,  it  emerging  with  a  force  which  will  sometimes 
knock  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  ship.  The  Dutch 
ship  which  was  driven  with  theirs  from  Spitzbergen, 
ran  against  a  large  piece  of  ice,  and  was  lost,  the 
ships  being  then  separated  to  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. The  winds  in  these  seas  are  generally 
Northerly ;  the  Southerly  winds  are  commonly  damp 
and  cold." 

Having  thus  stated  the  memorandum  as  I  received 
it  from  Dr.  Maskelyne,  I  shall  now  make  some  obser- 
vations on  the  contents. 

It  appears  by  the  preceding  pages,  that,  in  this 
»ame  year,  viz.  1754,  both  Mr.  Ware  and  Mr.  Adams* 
sailed  to  821°  and  83°  during  the  month  of  June,  and 
both  of  them  conceived  that  they  might  have  reached 
the  North  Pole. 

Mr.  Maister,  by  letter  from  Hull,  dated  February 
24,  1777,  hath  procured  me  the  following  information 
from  a  friend  of  his,  who,  at  my  desire,  inquired  at 
Whitby  with  regard  to  any  ships  having  reached  high 
Northern  latitudes. 

"  Captain  Brown  of  the  Freelove  says,  that,  in  the 
year  1770,  he  was  certainly  in  82°  North  latitude, 
when  the  water  was  clear.  Captain  Cole  also  of  the 
Henrietta  says,  that  in  1776,  he  was  near  the  latitude 
of  81°  North,  and  after  he  was  certain  of  being  in  that 
latitude,  he  was,  with  strong  Southeast  gales,  drove 
for  three  days  to  the  Northward,  but  as  he  had  thick 

*  See  the  Probability  of  reaching  the  North  Pole,  p.  42.  &c. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  81 

weather,  the  distance  was  uncertain.     In  the  course 
of  this  drift  he  met  with  nothing  but  loose  ice." 

It  appears  also  by  the  above  account,  that  Mr.  Ste- 
phens had  proceeded  as  far  as  84-2°,  the  sea  being 
open  to  the  Northward  a  month  earlier  in  this  same 
year. 

From  this,  and  other  facts  of  the  same  kind, 
I  cannot  but  infer,  that  the  attempt  should  be  made 
early  in  the  season;  if  I  am  right  also  in  what  1  have 
before  supposed,  that  the  ice,  which  often  packs  near 
the  coasts  of  Spitzbergen,  comes  chiefly  from  the 
rivers,  which  empty  themselves  into  the  Tartarian 
sea,  it  seems  highly  probable,  that  this  is  the  proper 
time  of  pushing  to  the  Nortliward,  as  the  ice  in  such 
rivers  cannot  be  then  completely  broken  up.  What 
other  ice  therefore  may  be  seen  at  this  time  is  proba- 
bly the  remains  of  what  was  disembogued  during  the 
preceding  summer. 

Another  proof  of  this  arises  from  what  happened  in 
1778,  for  the  Carcase  and  Race  Horse  were  obstruct- 
ed at  80i°,  by  an  immense  bank  of  ice,  during  part 
of  the  months  of  July  and  August;  but  four  Green- 
land Masters  were  a  degree  farther  to  the  North- 
ward during  the  months  of  May  and  June,  in  the 
same  year.* 

No  one  winters  in  Spitzbergen,  but  some  few  Rus- 
sians, from  whom  however  we  have  not  been  informed 
what  happens  during  that  season,  though  it  should 

*  See  the  Probability  of  reaching  the  North  Pole,  p.  4.  45.  4G 
and  57. 

11 


82  oi\  APi'iioACHiive 

seem,  from  the  observations  of  Barentz,  those  of  the 
Russians  in  Maloy  Brun,  and  a  ship  having  pushed  into 
the  Atlantic  from  Hudson's  Bay  during  the  midst  of 
December,*  that  the  Northern  Seas  are  then  navi- 
gable. 

For  the  same  reason,  probably,  Clipperton,t  who 
passed  the  Straits  of  Magellan  in  the  midst  of  winter, 
saw  no  ice,  which  is  so  frequently  met  with  at  mid- 
summer by  those  who  sail  to  the  Southward  of  Cape 
Horn. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  recapitulating  the  years 
since  1746,J  during  which  it  appeai-s,  irom  the  in- 
stances I  have  stated,  that  the  sea  to  the  North 
of  Spitzbergen  hath  been  open,  so  as  to  permit 
attempts  of  approaching  the  Pole,  which  will  shoAv 
that  such  opportunities  are  not  uncommon,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  they  will  be  more  frequently  embraced, 
from  a  parliamentary  reward  of  five  thousand  pounds 
being  given  to  such  of  his  majesty's  subjects  as  shall 
first  penetrate  beyond  the  89th  degree  of  Northern 
latitude;  the  bill  for  which  purpose  hath  already 
passed  both  Houses  of  Parliament.§ 

*  See  the  Probability  of  reaching  the  North  Pole,  ]).  83. 

t  Frezier  was  as  far  South  as  5Q°  in  the  middle  of  May,  and  saw 
no  ice,  though  he  speaks  of  a  Southeast  wind  as  cold. — See  Callan- 
der's Collection  of  Voyages,  vol.  iii.  p.  4G1. 

I  Viz.  1746,  1751,  1752,  1754,  175G,  1759,  1763,  1765,  1766, 
1769,  1771,  and  1773. 

§  By  the  same  bill,  a  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  is  given  to 
such  of  his  majesty's  subjects  as  shall  first  discover  a  communication 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  in  any  direction  what- 
soever of  the  Northern  Hemisphere. 


THE  NORTH  POLE-  83 

As  it  appears,  by  the  two  first  collections  of  in- 
stances, that  I  have  had  mucli  conversation  with 
the  officers  of  the  Royal  Navy,  as  well  as  masters 
of  Greenland  ships,  about  a  Polar  Voyage,  1  shall 
now  state  several  hints  which  have  occasionally 
dropped  from  them,  with  regard  to  prosecutuig 
discoveries  to  the  Northward. 

The  ship  should  be  such  as  is  commonly  used  in 
the  Greenland  Fishery,  or  rather  of  a  smaller  size, 
as  it  works  the  more  readily  when  the  ice  begins  to 
pack  round  it. 

There  should,  on  no  account,  be  a  larger  com- 
plement of  men  than  can  be  conveniently  stowed  in 
the  boats,  as.it  sometimes  hapjiens,  that  the  Green- 
land vessels  are  lost  in  the  ice;  but  the  crews 
generally  escape  by  means  of  their  boats.  The 
crew  also  should  consist  of  a  larger  proportion  of 
smiths  and  carpenters  than  are  usually  put  on  board 
common  ships. 

As  it  may  happen,  that  the  crews  in  boats  may  be 
kept  a  considerable  time  before  they  can  reach 
either  ship  or  shore,  there  should  be  a  sort  of 
aAvning,  to  be  used  occasionally,  if  the  weather  should 
prove  very  inclement. 

As  it  is  not  wanted  that  the  boats  should  last  many 
years,  it  is  advised,  that  they  should  be  built  of  the 
lightest  materials,  because,  on  this  account,  they 
are  more  easily  dragged  over  the  packed  ice.* 

*  Genpral  Oglethorpe  informs  me,  that  the  Dutch  vessels  on  the 
Greenland  Fishery  have  three  boats  fastened  on  each  side  of  the 
fhip,  which  may  be  sufficient  to  contain  the  whole  crew  in  case  of 


81  ON  APPROACHING 

As  it  is  possible,  also,  that  the  crew  may  be 
obliged  to  winter  in  the  Arctic  Circle,  it  is  recom- 
mended, that  the  ship  should  be  ballasted  with  coals. 

That  there  should  be  a  framed  house  of  wood  on 
board,  to  be  made  as  long  as  possible,  for  the  oppor- 
tunity of  exercise  within  doors.* 

That  there  should  be  also  a  Russian  stove,  as  a 
fire  in  a  common  chimney  does  not  warm  the  room 
equably. 

It  appears,  by  the  accounts  of  the  Dutch,  who 
wintered  in  Nova  Zembla,t  as  well  as  the  Russians, 
who  continued  six  years  in  Maloy  Brun,  that  during 
this  season  there  are  sometimes  days  of  a  tolerable 
temperature ;  snow  shoes,  therefore,  should  be  pro- 
vided, as  also  snow  eyes,  not  to  lose  the  benefit  of 
air   and   exercise  during  such    an    interval.f     The 

accidents ;  and  that  the  early  discoverers  had  always  what  was  called 
a  ship  in  quarters  on  board,  which  might  be  put  together  when  a 
creek,  &c.  was  to  be  explored.  He  also  advises,  that  the  saiUng  of 
the  two  ships,  to  be  sent  in  concert  on  discoveries,  should  be  pre- 
viously tried,  as  there  should  not  be  too  great  a  disparity  in  that 
circumstance. 

*  On  the  Labrador  Coast,  the  furriers  raise  a  wall  of  earth  all 
round  their  huts,  as  high  as  the  roof,  which  is  found  to  contribute 
much  to  warmth  within  doors,  so  as  to  want  little  more  heat  than 
arises  from  the  steam  of  lamps.  Such  wall  is  commonly  three  feet 
thick. 

t  The  Russian  Heretics,  of  the  old  faith,  as  they  are  stjded, 
sometimes  winter  in  Nova  Zem^bla.-r-Account  of  Maloy  Brun. 

I  A  barrelled  organ,  which  plays  a  few  country  dances,  might 
amuse  during  the  dark  months,  as  also  be  of  use  in  the  first  inter- 
course with  the  savages,  music  being  a  sort  of  universal  language  ; 
and  Sir  Francis  Drake,  for  that  reason,  carried  out  musicians  with 
him. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  85 

beard,  likewise,  should  be  suffered  to  grow  on  the 
approach  of  winter,  from  which  the  Russian  Cou- 
riers are  enabled  to  support  the  severity  of  the 
open  air. 

Russian  boots,  and  the  winter  cap  of  the  furriers 
of  North  America,  are  also  recommended ;  but  re- 
course should  not  be  had  to  this  warmest  clothing 
upon  the  first  approach  of  winter,  for  by  these  means 
the  Russians  do  not  commonly  endure  cold  so  well  as 
the  English ;  because,  when  the  weather  becomes 
excessively  severe,  they  cannot  well  add  to  their 
warmth. 

When  the  weather  is  very  inclement,  leads  for  the 
hands,  dumb-bells,  and  other  such  exercises,  should 
be  contrived  for  within-doors. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  scurvy,  likewise,  frequent 
use  of  the  flesh-brush  is  recommended,  as  also  occa- 
sionally a  warm  bath,  from  which  James's  crew 
received  great  benefit,  when  they  wintered  on  Charl- 
ton Island. 

With  regard  to  the  pro,visions,  I  shall  here  insert  a 
method  of  curing  meat,  communicated  to  me  by 
Admiral  Sir  Charles  Knowles,  the  good  effects  of 
which  both  himself  and  others  have  frequently  expe- 
vienced.* 

*  So  soon  as  the  ox  is  killed,  let  it  be  skinned  and  cut  up  into 
pieces,  tit  for  use,  as  quick  as  possible,  and  salted  whilst  the  meat  is 
hot ;  for  which  purpose  have  a  sufficient  quantitj^  of  saltpetre  and 
bay  salt  pounded  together,  and  made  hot  in  an  oven,  of  each  equal 
parts  ;  with  tliis  sprinkle  the  meat,  at  the  rate  of  about  two  ounces 
to  the  pound.  Then  lay  the  pieces  on  shelving  boards  to  drain  for 
twenty-four  hours;  which  done,  turn  them  and  repeat  the  same 


86  ox  AFPROACHIN^^ 

The  flour  should  be  kihi-dried,  and  put  into  tight 
barrels  which  are  capable  of  holding  liquids.*  Flour 
thus  preserved  and  packed  hath  been  perfectly  good 
for  more  than  three  years,  without  the  least  appear- 
ance of  the  weevils. 

To  make  the  best  use  of  flour  thus  preserved, 
there  should  be  both  a  biscuit-maker  and  an  oven  on 
board. 

With  regard  to  liquors,  a  large  quantity  of  shrub 
from  the  best  spirits  and  fruits  is  recommended, 
which  should  also  be  made  just  before  the  voyage 
takes  place ;  the  stronger  the  spirits,  the  less  stowage. 

operation,  and  let  tliem  lay  for  twenty-four  hours  longer,  by  which 
time  the  salt  will  be  all  melted,  and  have  penetrated  the  meat,  and 
the  juices  be  drained  off.  Each  piece  must  then  be  wiped  dry  with 
clean  coarse  cloths,  and  a  sufficient  quantity  of  common  salt,  made 
hot  likewise  in  an  oven,  and  mixed  (when  taken  out)  with  about  oner 
third  brown  sugar.  The  casks  being  ready,  rub  each  piece  well 
with  tliis  mixture,  and  pack  them  well  down,  allowing  half  a  pound 
of  the  salt  and  sugar  to  each  pound  of  meat,  and  it  will  keep  good 
several  years. 

N.  B.  It  is  best  to  proportion  the  casks  or  barrels  to  the  quantity 
consumed  at  a  time,  as  the  more  seldom  the  meat  is  exposed  to  the 
air  the  better.  The  same  process  does  for  pork,  only  a  larger 
quantity  of  salt,  and  less  sugar  ;  but  the  preservation  of  both  equally 
depends  on  the  meat's  being  hot  when  tirst  salted.  Sir  John  Nar- 
borough  salted  young  seals,  and  Sir  Richard  Hawkins  many  barrels 
of  penguins,  both  of  which  are  said  to  have  been  wholesome  and 
palatable  :  fish  likewise  caught  at  the  approach  of  winter,  might  be 
so  cured,  or  indeed  preserved  by  the  frost  without  any  salt.  Cap- 
tain Cook's  precautions  need  not  be  here  alluded  to. 

*  Woodes  Rogers  observes  in  his  voyage,  that  the  water,  wliich 
he"  had  brought  with  him  from  England,  on  his  arrival  at  Juan 
Fernandez,  was  all  spoiled  by  the  casks  being  bad.-Callander,  iii. 
p.  259. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  87 

Dampier  preferred  Vidonia  to  other  wines,  on 
account  of  its  acidity ;  and  perhaps  old  hock  might 
answer  still  better. 

I  should  stand  in  need  of  many  apologies,  for  hav- 
ing suggested  these  hints  to  Northern  Discoverers, 
had  I  not  received  them  from  officers  of  the  Royal 
Navy,  as  well  as  Greenland  Masters,  and  eminent 
physicians;  if  any  of  these  particulars,  however, 
would  not  have  been  otherwise  thought  of  upon 
fitting  out  the  ship  for  such  a  voyage,  and  should  be 
attended  with  any  good  effects,  it  will  become  my 
best  excuse. 

In  order  also  to  promote  such  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, I  should  conceive,  that  extending  the  Parlia- 
mentary reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  by  18 
Geo.  II,  cap.  17,  for  the  passage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
through  Hudson's  Bay,  to  a  Northern  communication 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  in  any 
direction  whatsoever,  might  greatly  contribute  to  the 
attempting  such  an  enterprise. 

To  this  another  incitement  might  perhaps  be  added, 
by  giving  one  thousand  pounds  for  every  degree  of 
North  latitude,  which  might  be  reached  by  the  adven- 
turer, from  8.5°  to  the  Pole,  as  some  so  very  perempto- 
rily deny  all  former  instances  of  having  penetrated 
to  such  high  latitudes.  An  act  hath  accordingly 
passed  for  the  first  of  these  purposes ;  and,  for  the 
second,  with  this  variation,  that  a  reward  of  five 
thousand  pounds  is  given  only  for  approaching  within 
a  degree  of  the  Polo. 

I  shall  conclude,  however,  in  answer  to  their  incre- 
dulity, by  the  following  citation  from  Hakluyt: — 


88  ON  APPROACHING 

"Now,  lest  you  should  make  some  account  of 
ancient  writers,  or  of  their  experience,  who  travelled 
before  our  times,  reckoning  their  authority  amongst 
fables  of  no  importance,  I  have,  for  the  better  assur- 
ance of  those  proofs,  set  down  part  of  a  discourse 
written  in  the  Saxon  tongue,  and  translated  into 
English  by  Mr.  Nowel,  servant  to  master  Secretary 
Cecil,  wherein  is  described  a  navigation,  which  one 
Ochter  made  in  the  time  of  king  Alfred,  king  of  West 
Saxe,  anno  871 ;  the  words  of  which  discourse  are 
these:  'He  sailed  right  North,  having  always  the 
desert  land  on  the  starboard,  and  on  the  larboard  the 
main  sea,  continuing  his  course  till  he  perceived  the 
cop-st  bowed  directly  towards  the  East,  &c.'  Where- 
by it  appeareth,  that  he  went  the  same  way  that  we 
do  now  yearly  trade  by  St.  Nicholas  into  Muscovia, 
which  no  man  in  our  age  knew  for  certainty  to  be 
sea,  till  it  was  again  discovered  by  the  English  in  the 
time  of  Edward  VI. 

"  Nevertheless,  if  any  man  should  have  taken  this 
voyage  in  hand,  by  the  encouragement  of  this  only 
author,*  he  should  have  been  thought  but  simple, 

*  Perhaps  the  same  sea  is  alluded  to  in  the  following  line  of 
Dionysius  : — 

Tlovrov  j«.£V  xaXsaa-t,  sr£3-?sye7«,  x^eviav,  ti. 

as  the  name  of  Frozen  can  scarcely  be  applied  to  that  of  the  Baltic. 

As  for  the  Thule  of  the  ancients,  about  which  so  many  conjec- 
tures have  been  made,  it  seems  most  clearly  to  have  been  Ireland, 
from  the  manner  in  which  Statins  addressed  a  Poem  to  Crispinus, 
whose  father  had  carried  the  Emperor's  commands  to  Thule  : — 
— —  tu  disce  patrem,  quantusque  nigrantem 
Fluctibus  occiduis,fessoq.  Hyperione  Thulea 
Intravit  mandaia  gerens. 


THE  NORTH  POLE^  8$ 

considering  that  this  navigation  was  written  so  many 
years  past,  in  so  barbarous  a  tongue,  by  one  only 
obscure  author ;  and  yet  in  these  our  days,  we  find 
by  our  own  experience  his  reports  to  be  true." 

It  should  also  seem,  from  other  parts  of  the  same  Poem,  that  this 
General  had  crossed  from  Scotland  to  the  North  of  Ireland,  oT 
Thule  :— 

Quod  si  te  magno  tellus  franata  parenti 

Accipiat,  quantum  ferus  exultabit  Araxes  ? 

Quanta  Caledonios  attollet  gloria  campos  ? 

Cum  tibi  longsevus  referet  trucis  incola  terrae, 

Hie  fuetus  dare  jura  parens,  hoc  cespite  turmas 

Affari ;  nitidas  speculas,  castellaque  longe. 

Aspicis  ?  ille  dedit  cinxitque  haec  moenia  fossA. 

Statius,  v.  14. 
Crispinus's  father,  therefore,  must  have  resided  some  time  in  Scot- 
land, from  whence  he  went  to  Thule  or  Ireland,  for  the  Hebrides 
(the  only  land  to  the  West  except  Ireland)  could  not  have  been  of 
sufficient  consequence  for  the  Emperor's  commission,  or  the  fortifi- 
cations alluded  to  ;  besides  that  the  expression  offessoqite  Hyperione 
implies,  that  the  land  lay  considerably  to  the  Westward. 


12 


THOUGHTS 

ON  THE 

PROBABILITF,  EXPEDIEJ^CF,  ^XD  UTILITT 

OF 

DISCOVERING  A  PASSAGE 

BY 

THE   NORTH   POLE.* 

X  HE  possibility  of  making  discoveries  in  this  way, 
(that  is,  by  steering  directly  North,)  though  npw 
treated  as  paradoxical  by  many,  was  not,  as  will 
hereafter  appear,  formerly  looked  upon  in  that 
light,  even  by  such  as  ought  to  be  reputed  the  pro- 
perest  judges.  There  have  been  a  variety  of  causes, 
that,  at  different  times,  have  retarded  undertakings 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  human  species. 
Among  these  we  may  justly  consider  the  conduct  of 
some  great  philosophers,  who,  as  our  judicious  Veru- 
1am  wisely 'observes,  quitting  the  luminous  path  of 
experience  to  investigate  the  operations  of  nature  by 
their  own  speculations,  imposed  upon  the  bulk  of 

*  I  have  lately  received  these  reflections  from  a  learned  friend, 
who  is  now  deceased,  and  who  permitted  me  to  print  them,  though 
not  to  inform  the  public  to  whom  they  are  indebted  for  this  very 
valuable  rommunication. 

D.  B 


Si2  ON  APPROACHING 

mankind  specious  opinions  for  incontestable  truths  j 
which,  being  propagated  by  their  disciples  through  a 
long  series  of  years,  captivated  the  minds  of  men, 
and  thereby  deprived  them  of  that  great  instrument 
of  science,  the  spirit  of  inquiry.*  In  succeeding 
ages  a  new  impediment  arose,  from  the  setting  up 
profit  as  the  ultimate  object  of  discovery ;  and  then, 
as  might  well  be  expected,  the  prefening  the  private 
and  particular  gain  of  certain  individuals  to  the 
general  interests  of  the  community,  as  well  as  to 
the  interests  of  the  whole  world,  in  the  extension 
of  science.  This  it  was  that  induced  the  States 
General,  at  the  instance  of  their  East  India  Company, 
to  discourage  all  attempts  for  finding  a  Northeast 
passage,  and  to  stifle  such  accounts  as  tended  to 
show  that  it  was  practicable.  We  may  add  to 
thdse,  the  sourness  of  disappointed  navigators,  who 
endeavoured  to  render  their  own  miscarriages  proofs 
of  the  impracticability  of  any  like  attempts.  This 
was  the  case  of  Captain  Wood,  who  was  shipwrecked 
upon  Nova  Zembla,  and  who  declared,  that  all 
endeavours  on  that  side  were,  and  would  be  found 
vain ;  though  Barentz,  w  ho  died  there  in  a  like  expe- 
dition, affirmed,  with  his  last  breath,  that,  in  his  own 
opinion,  such  a  passage  might  be  found. 

That  the  earth  was  spherical  in  its  form  Avas  an 
opinion  very  early  entertained,  and  amongst  the 
learned  generally  admitted.  It  seemed  to  be  a  plain 
deduction  from   thence,  that  a  right  line,   passing 

*  Baconi  Opera,  torn.  iv.  p.  100;  ct  alibi  passim.  But  these  pas- 
sages may  be  found  collected  in  Shaw's  Abridgment  of  Bacon's 
Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  62. 


THE  NORTH  POtE.  93 

through  the  globe,  would  terminate  in  two  points 
diametrically  opposite.  Plato  is  thought  to  be  the 
first  who  spoke  of  the  inhabitants  (if  such  there  were) 
dwelling  at  or  near  those  points,  by  the  name  of 
Antipodes.  This  doctrine  occasioned  disputes  among 
philosophers  for  many  ages ;  some  maintained,  some 
denied,  and  some  treated  it  as  absurd,  ridiculous, 
and  impossible.*  Whoever  will  examine  impartially 
the  sentiments  of  these  great  men,  weigh  the  con- 
trariety of  their  opinions,  and  consider  the  singularity 
of  their  reasonings,  will  see  and  be  convinced  how 
unsatisfactory  their  notions  were,  and  discover  from 
thence,  how  insufficient  the  subtle  speculations  of  the 
human  understanding  are  towards  settling  points  like 
these,  when  totally  unassisted  by  the  lights  of  ob- 
servation and  actual  experience. 

The  division  of  the  globe  by  zones  being  agreeable- 
to  nature,  the  ancients  distinguished  them  very  pro- 
perly and  accurately  into  two  frigid,  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  Circles ;  two  temperate,  lying  between 
those  circles  and  the  tropics ;  and  the  torrid  zone 
within  the  tropics,  equally  divided  by  the  equinoctial. 
But  judging  from  their  experience  of  the  nature  oi 
the  climates  at  the  extremities  of  the  zone  which 
they  inhabited,  tliey  concluded,  that  the  frigid  zones 
were  utterly  uninhabitable  from  cold,  and  the  torrid 
from  intolerable  heat  of  the  sun.  Pliny  laments  very 
pathetically  upon  tliis  supposition,  that  the  race  o<' 
• 

*  Lucr.  de  Natura  Rcrum,  lib.  i.  ver.  1063  ;  Cicer.  Acad.  Qiia)>(. 
fib.  iv.  ;  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  ii.  cap.  65  ;  Pli)«l  de  Farip  in  Orbf» 
Lunae  ;  Macrob.  dc  Somn.  ?cip.  lib.  ii. 


u 


ON    APPROACHING 


mankind  were  pent  up  in  so  small  a  part  of  the  earth. 
The  poets,  who  were,  also  no  despicable  philoso- 
phers, heightened  the  horrors  of  these  inhospitable 
regions  by  all  the  colouring  of  a  warm  and  heated 
imagination;*  but  we  now  know,  with  the  utmost 
certainty,  that  they  were  entirely  mistaken  as  to 
both.  For  within  the  Arctic  Circle  there  are  coun- 
tries inhabited  as  high  nearly  as  we  have  discovered ; 
and,  if  we  may  confide  in  the  relations  of  those  who 
have  been  nearest  the  Pole,t  the  heat  there  is  very 
considerable,  in  respect  to  which  our  own  navigators 
and  the  Dutch  perfectly  agree.  In  regard  to  the 
torrid  zone,  we  have  now  not  the  least  doubt  of  its 
being  thoroughly  inhabited ;  and,  which  is  more 
wonderful,  that  the  climates  are  very  different  there, 
according  to  the  circumstances  of  their  situation.  In 
Ethiopia,  Arabia,  and  the  Moluccas,  exceedingly 
hot ;  but  in  the  plains  of  Peru  (and  particularly  at 

*  Cicero  in  Somnium  Sciopinis  ;  Virg.  Georg.  lib.  i. ;  Ovidii  Met. 
lib.  i.  ;  Tibullus  Panegyr.  ad  Messalam,  lib.  iv. ;  Plin.  Hist.  Nat. 
lib.  ii.  cap.  68;  Pomp.  Mela  de  Situ  Orbis,  lib.  i.  cap.  1  ;  Claud, 
de  Raptu  Proserpinae,  lib.  i. 

t  That  the  earth  had  inhabitants,  even  under  the  Poles,  seems  to 
have  been  believed  by  many  at  the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tur}',  from  the  following  lines  : — 

"  Fond  men  !  if  we  believe  that  men  do  live 
Under  the  zenith  of  both  frozen  poles  ; 
Thongh  none  come  thence  advertisements  to  give, 
Why  bear  we  not  the  hke  faith  of  our  souls  ?" 

Sir  John  Oavis's  Nosce  te  ipsum. 

Probably  written  in  1596,  from  a  cgmpliment  to  Lord  Keeper  Eger- 
ton  on  his  first  recei^^ng  the  Great  Seal. 

D.  B 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  95 

Quito)  perfectly  temperate,  so  that  the  inhabitants 
never  change  their  clothes  in  any  season  of  the  year. 
The  sentiments  of  the  ancients  therefore  in  this 
respect  are  a  proof  how  inadequate  the  faculties  of 
the  human  mind  are  to  discussions  of  this  nature, 
when  unassisted  by  facts. 

The  Pythagorean  system  of  the  universe,  revised 
and  restored  near  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago 
by  the  celebrated  Copernicus,  met  with  a  very  diffi- 
cult and  slow  reception,  not  only  from  the  bulk  of 
mankind,  for  that  might  have  been  well  expected, 
but  even  from  the  learned ;  and  some  very  able 
astronomers  attempted  to  overturn  and  refute  it.* 
Galileo  Galilei  wrote  an  admirable  treaties  in  its 
support,  in  wliich  he  very  fully  removed  most  of  the 
popular  objections.t  This,  however,  exposed  him 
to  the  rigour  of  the  inquisition,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  abjure  the  doctrine  of  the  earth's  motion.  Our 
noble  philosopher,  the  deep  and  acute  Lord  Veru- 
1am,  could  not  absolutely  confide  in  the  truth  and 
certainty  of  the  Copernican  System;  but  seems  to 
think,  that  its  facihtating  astronomical  calculations 
was  its  principal  recommendation,  as  if  this  had  not 

*  Amongst  the  most  considerable  of  these  was  John  Baptist  Ric- 
cioli,  who  published  his  J  mage: 'um  JVovujn  with  this  view.  Yet 
afterward,  in  his  Aslronomia  Reformata,  he  found  himself  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  the  doctrine  of  the  earth's  motion,  that  he  might 
be  able  to  give  liis  calculations  with  a  proper  degree  of  exactness. 

t  This  celebrated  work  of  his  was  entitled,  Dialog/d  dc  Sistemi  di 
Tolnmco,  e  di  Copcrnico.  This  is  much  better  known  to  the  learned 
world  by  a  Latin  translation,  which  so  clearly  proved  the  superiority 
of  the  Copernican  System,  that  the  only  means  of  refuUng  it  was  by 
the  censures  of  the  Church. 


96  <&N  APPRO ACrilKG 

been  also  a  very  strong  presumption  at  least,  if  not  a 
proof,  of  its  veracity.*  It  was  from  this  consideration 
that  the  church  of  Rome  at  length  thought  fit  so  far 
to  relax  in  her  decisions,  as  to  permit  the  maintain- 
ing the  earth's  motion  in  physical  and  philosophical 
disquisitions.  But  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  built  upon 
this  basis  his  experimental  philosophy,  hath  dispersed 
ail  doubts  on  this  subject,  and  shown  how  the  most 
sublime  discoveries  may  be  made  by  the  reciprocal 
aids  of  sagacity  and  observation.  On  these  grounds, 
therefore,  all  inquiries  of  this  nature  ought  to  pro- 
ceed, without  paying  an  implicit  submission  to  the 
mere  speculative  notions  even  of  the  greatest  men; 
but  pursuing  steadily  the  path  of  truth,  under  the 
direction  of  the  light  of  experience. 

It  may  be  urged,  in  excuse  of  the  ancients,  and 
even  of  our  ancestors  of  former  times,  that,  as  thejr 
were  unassisted  by  facts,  they  could  only  employ 
guess  and  conjecture,  and  that  consequently  their 
conclusions  were  from  thence  erroneous.  But  to 
waive  the  visible  impropriety  of  deciding  in  points, 
xvhere  observation  was  so  obviously  necessary  with- 
out its  direction ;  let  us  see  whether  this  plea  of  alle- 
viation may  not  be  controverted  in  both  cases. 
Cornelius  Nepos  reports,  that  some  Indians  being  cast 
on  shore  in  Germany  w  ere  sent  by  a  prince  of  the 
Suevi  to  Quintus  Metellus  Celer,  then  the  Roman 
proconsul  in  Gaul.f     A  very  learned  writer,  in  dis- 

*  Shaw's  Abridgment  of  Bacon's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  21.  where 
the  Doctor  endeavours  to  defend  this  opinion. 

t  Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  ii.  cap.  67. 


THE  XORTH  POLE.  97 

cussing  this  point,  hath  shown,  that  it  was  possible 
for  these  Indians  to  have  come  by  two  different  routes 
into  the  Baltic.  He  thinks,  however,  that  it  is  very 
improbable  they  came  by  either,  and  supposes,  that 
they  were  either  Norwegians,  or  some  other  wild 
people,  to  whom,  from  their  savage  appearance,  they 
gave  the  name  of  Indians.*  But  though  this  observa- 
tion may  well  enough  apply  to  tlie  Romans,  who  at 
that  time  had.no  knowledge  of  these  Northern  peo- 
ple, yet  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  that  the  Suevi 
could  fall  into  this  mistake ;  or,  if  they  did  not,  that 
they  should  .tttempt  to  impose  upon  the  Romans.  It 
appears  incontestably,  that,  in  the  time  of  King  Alfred, 
the  Northern  sons  were  constantly  navigated  upon 
the  same  motives  they  are  now;  tliat  is,  for  the  sake 
of  catching  whales  and  sea-horses.t  Nicholas  of 
Lynn,  a  Carmelite  Friar,  sailed  to  the  most  distant 
islands  in  the  NortI),  and  even  as  high  as  the  Pole. 
He  dedicated  an  account  of  his  discoveries  to  King 
Edward  the  Tliird,  and  was  certainly  a  person  of 
great  learning,  and  an  able  astronomer,^  if  we  may 

*  Huet  Histoire  de  Commerce,  et  de  la  Navigation  des  Anciens, 
p.  631. 

t  See  Barrington's  Translation  of  Orosius  from  the  Anglo-Saxoa 
of  King  Alfred,  part  ii.  p.  9. 

I  Leland.  Comment,  de  Script.  Britan.  cap.  370  ;  Bale,  vi.  23  ; 
Pits,  p.  505.  His  description  was  intituled  Inventio  Forttmata ; 
besides  which,  he  wrote,  amongst  other  things,  a  book,  De  Mnndi 
Revolutione,  which  possibly  may  still  remiiin  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 
This  Friar,  as  Dr.  Dee  .isserts,  made  five  voyages  into  these  North- 
ern parts,  and  left  an  account  of  his  discoveries  from  the  latitude 
of  51°  to  the  Pole. 

13 


9y  O.N   Al'l'ROAClII.VG 

believe  the  celebrated  Chaucer,  ^vho,  in  his  Treatise 
on  the  Astrolabe,  mentions  him  with  g;reat  respect. 

After  Columbus  discovered  America,  under  the 
auspices  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  Sovereigns 
of  Europe,  and  especially  Henry  the  Seventh,  turned 
their  thoughts  towards,  and  gave  great  encourage- 
ment to,  discoveries.  Mr.  Robert  Thorne,  w  ho  resided 
many  years  as  a  merchant  in  Spain,  and  who  was 
afterward  mayor  of  Bristol,  wrote  a  letter  to  Henry 
the  Eighth,  in  which  he  strongly  recommended  a 
voyage  to  the  North  Pole.  He  gave  his  reasons 
more  at  large  in  a  long  Memorial  to  our  ambassador 
in  Spain,  which  show  him  to  have  been  a  very  judi- 
cious man,  and  for  those  times  a  very  able  cosmogra- 
pherj  and  accompanied  this  Memorial  with  a  map 
of  the  world,  to  prove  the  practicability  of  his  pro- 
posal.* Though  this  project  of  his  was  not  attended 
to,  yet  a  variety  of  expeditions  were  made  for  disco- 
vering a  passage  by  the  Northwest,  and  others  by  the 
Northeast,  into  the  South  seas  on  the  one  side,  and 
into  the  Tartarean  ocean  on  the  other,  until  at  length 
both  were  declared  impracticable  by  Captain  James 
and  Captain  Wood;  soured  by  their  own  miscar- 
riages, and  being  strongly  persuaded,  that,  as  they  did 
not  succeed,  none  else  could.  But  even  these  unsuc- 
cessful voyages  were  not  unprofitable  to  the  nation 
upon  the  whole,  as  they  opened  a  passage  to  many 
lucrative  fisheries,  such  as  those  in  Davis's  Straits, 

*  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  vol.  i.  p.  212—220.  The  letter  to  Dr. 
Ley,  who  was  the  King's  Ambassador  in  Spain,  is  dated  A.  D. 
1527.  This  Mr.  Thome's  father  was  engaged,  with  others,  in  the 
discovery  of  Newfoundland. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  99 

Baffin's  Bay,  and  on  tlie  coast  of  Spitzbergen. 
Besides  this,  they  laid  open  Hudson's  Straits  and  Bay, 
with  the  coast  on  both  sides,  which  have  been  alrea- 
dy productive  of  many  advantages,  and  which,  in 
process  of  time,  cannot  fail  of  producing  more,  in 
consequence  of  our  being  in  possession  of  Canada,  and 
being  thereby  sole  master  of  those  seas  and  coasts. 

It  is,  however,  very  remarkable,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  views,  both  of  our  traders  and  of  such  great 
men  as  were  distinguished  cncouragers  of  discove- 
ries, the  ablest  seamen  (who  without  doubt  are  the 
best  judges)  were  still  inclined  to  this  passage  by 
the  North,  such  as  Captain  Poole,  Sir  William  Mon- 
son,*  and  others ;  and  this  was  still  the  more  remark- 
able, as  they^  were  entirely  guided  therein  by  the 
lights  of  their  own  experience,  having  no  knowledge 
of  Mr.  Thome's  proposal,  or  of  the  sentiments  of 
each  other.  From  the  reason  of  the  thing,  however, 
they  uniformly  concurred  in  the  motives  they  sug- 
gested for  such  an  undertaking.  They  asserted,  that 
this  passage  would  be  much  shorter  and  easier  than 
any  of  those  by  the  Northwest  or  Northeast ;  that  it 
would  be  more  healthy  for  the  seamen,  and  attended 
with  fewer  inconveniences ;  that  it  would  probably 
open  a  passage  to  new  countries ;  and,  finally,  that 
the  experiment  might  be  made  with  very  little  hazard, 
at  a  small  expense,  and  would  redound  highly  to  our 
national  lionour,  if  attended  with  success.  It  may 
be  then  demanded,  wliy  it  has  not  hitherto  been  at- 
tempted, and  what  objections  liave  retarded  a  scheme 

*  Naval  Tracts,  p.  435, 


100  ON  APPROACHING 

SO  visibly  advantageous  ?  These  objections,  as  far 
as  they  can  be  collected,  are  the  fear  of  pcrie^lli^g  J)y 
excessive  cold,  the  danger  of  being  blockc^d  up  in 
ice,  and  the  apprehension  that  there  could  be  no 
certainty  of  preserving  the  use  of  the  compass  under 
or  near  the  Pole. 

In  respect  to  the  first,  we  have  already  mentioned, 
that  the  ancients  had  taken  up  an  opinion,  that  the 
seas  in  the  frigid  zone  were  impassable,  and  the 
lands,  if  there  were  any,  uninhabitable.  The  phi- 
losophers of  later  ages  fell  into  the  same  opinion,  and 
maintained  that  the  Poles  were  the  sources  and  prin- 
ciples of  cold,  which  of  course  increased  and  grew 
excessive  in  approaching  them.*  But  when  the 
lights  of  experience  were  admitted  to  guide  in  such 
researches,  the  truth  of  this  notion  came  to  be  ques- 
tioned, because  from  facts  it  became  probable,  that 
there  might  be  a  diversity  of  climates  in  the  frigid 
as  well  as  in  the  torrid  zone.  Charlton  Island,  in 
which  Captain  James  wintered,  lies  in  the  bottom, 
that  is,  in  the  most  Southern  part  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
and  in  the  same  latitude  with  Cambridge,  and  the 
cold  there  was  intolerable.  The  servants  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  trade  annually  in  places  ten 
degrees  nearer  the  Pole,  without  feeling  any  such 
inconvenience.  The  city  of  Moscow  is  in  the  same 
latitude  with  that  of  Edinburgh,  and  yet  in  winter 
the  weather  is  almost  as  severe  there  as  in  Charlton 

*  In  the  lan2;uage  of  those  times,  the  Pole  was  styled  Primnm 
Frigidum ;  and  it  was  by  such  groundless  phrases  that  men  pre- 
tended to  account  for  the  operations  of  nature,  without  giving  them^ 
selves  the  trouble  of  experimental  inquiries. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  101 

Island.  Nova  Zemhla  hath  no  soil,  herbage,  or  ani- 
mals ;  and  yet  in  Spitzbergen,  in  six  degrees  higher 
latitude,  there  are  all  three ;  and,  on  the  top  of  the 
mountains  in  tlie  most  Northern  part,  mon  strip  them- 
selves of  their  shirts  that  they  may  cool  their  bodies.* 
The  celebrated  Mr.  Boyle,  from  these  and  many 
other  instances,  rejected  the  loLig-received  notion, 
that  the  Pole  was  the  principle  of  cold.  Captain 
Jonas  Poole,  who  in  1610  sailed  in  a  vessel  of  seventy 
tons  to  make  discoveries  towards  the  North,  found 
the  weather  warm  in  near  79°  of  latitude,  whilst 
the  ponds  and  lakes  were  unfrozen,  which  put  him 
in  hopes  of  finding  a  mild  summer,  and  led  him  to 
believe,  that  a  passage  might  be  as  soon  found  by  the 
Pole  as  any  other  way  whatever;  and  lor  this  reason, 
that  the  sun  gave  a  great  heat  there,  and  that  the  ice 
was  not  near  so  thick  as  what  he  had  met  with  in 
the  latitude  of  73°.t  Indeed,  the  Dutchmen,  who 
pretend  to  have*  advanced  within  a  degree  of  the 
Pole,  said  it  was  as  hot  there  as  in  the  summer  at 
Amsterdam. 

In  these  Northern  Voyages  we  hear  very  much  of 
ice,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  vessels  are  very  much 
hindered  and  incommoded  thereby.  But  after  all,  it 
is,  in  the  opiriion  of  able  and  experienced  seamen, 
more  formidable  in  appearance  than  fatal  in  its 
effects.  When  our  earliest  discoveries  were  made, 
and  they  reached  farther  North  than  we  commonly 
sail  at  present,  it  was  performed  in  barks  of  seventy 

*  Sec  Marden's  Account  of  Spitzbergen,  p.  105. 
t  Purchas's  PilgriiBS,  vol.  iii.  p.  702. 


102  ON  APPROACHING 

tons,  with  some  trouble,  no  doubt,  but  with  very  little 
hazard.  At  this  day  it  is  known,  that  in  no  part  of 
the  world  there  are  greater  quantities  of  ice  seen 
than  in  Hudson's  Bay,  and  yet  there  is  no  navigation 
safer,  the  company  not  losing  a  ship  in  twenty  years, 
and  (he  seamen,  who  are  used  to  it,  are  not  troubled 
with  any  apprehensions  about  it.  It  is  no  objection 
to  this,  that  we  hear  almost  every  season  of  ships  lost 
in  the  ice  on  the  Whale  fishery;  for  these  vessels, 
instead  of  avoiding,  industriously  seek  the  ice,  as 
amongst  it  the  whales  are  more  commonly  found  than 
in  the  open  sea.  Being  thus  continually  amongst  the 
ice,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  are  sometimes  surround- 
ed by  it;  and  yet  the  men,  when  the  ships  are  lost,  gene- 
rally speaking,  escape.  But  in  the  seas  near  the  Pole, 
it  is  very  probable  there  is  little  or  no  ice,  for  that  is 
commonly  formed  in  bays  and  rivers  during  winter, 
and  does  not  break  up  and  get  into  the  sea  till  the 
latter  end  of  March,  or  the  beginning  of  April,  when 
it  begins  to  thaw  upon  the  shores.  It  is  also,  when 
formed,  very  uncertain  as  to  its  continuance,  being 
broken  and  driven  about  by  the  vehemence  of  the 
winds.  As  a  proof  of  this  we  have  an  instance  of  a 
vessel  frozen  in  one  of  the  harbours  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
which,  by  the  breaking  of  the  ice,  drove  to  sea,  and, 
though  it  was  Christmas,  found  the  Straits  quite  free 
from  ice,*  which  are  frequently  choked  with  it  in  May 
and  June,  and  made  a  safe  and  speedy  passage  home. 
AH  our  accounts  agree,  that,  in  very  high  latitudes, 
there  is  less  ice.    Barentz,  when  his  ship  was  frozen  in 

*  Mr.  Dobb's  Account  of  Hudson's  Bay,  p.  69,  70. 


J 


THE    NORTH    POLE. 


■iM 


Nova  Zembla,  heard  the  ice  broken  with  a  most 
horrible  noise  by  an  impetuous  sea  from  the  North, 
a  full  proof  that  it  was  open.  It  is  the  invariable 
tradition  of  tlie  Samoides  and  Tartars,  who  live 
beyond  the  Waygat,  that  the  sea  is  open  to  the 
North  of  Nova  Zembla  all  the  year ;  and  the  most 
knowing  people  in  Russia  are  of  the  same  opinion. 
These  authorities  ought  certainly  to  have  more 
weight  than  simple  conjectures. 

The  notion,  that  approaching  to  a  passage  under 
the  Pole  would  destroy  the  use  of  the  compass,  is  a 
popular  opinion  without  any  just  grounds  to  support 
it.  For  it  presumes  that  the  needle  is  directed  by 
the  Pole  of  the  World  ;  which  it  certainly  is  not,  as 
appears  from  the  needle's  variation,  and  even  the 
variation  of  that  variation,  which,  if  this  notion  was 
true,  could  never  happen.  In  Sir  Thomas  Smith's 
Sound  in  Baffin''s  Bay,  the  variation  was  found  to  be 
56°  Westward,  the  greatest  yet  known.  Captain 
Wood  is  very  clear  upon  this  point,  and  maintains, 
that  no  danger  was  to  be  apprehended  from  this 
cause.*  Those  who  asserted,  that  they  had  advanced 
within  a  degree  of  the  Pole,  estimated  the  variation 
there  at  five  points  of  the  compass.  Captain  Wood, 
in  stating  the  account  given  of  tlie  Dutch  seamen's 
voyage  by  Captain  Goulden,  omits  one  very  material 
point,  of  which  we  are  informed  by  Mr.  Boyle,  which 
is,  that  one  of  the  Dutch  captains  coming  over  to 
England,  Captain  Goulden  carried  him  to  some  of 
the  Northern  Company,  who  were  perfectly  satisfied 

*  Wood's  Voyage  for  the  Discovery  of  a  Northeast  Passage, 
p.  13i) 


104  ON  APPROACHING 

as  to  the  truth  of  his  relation.*  On  the  whole,  there- 
fore, whether  we  respect  reason  or  facts,  there  are 
no  just  grounds  for  apprehensions  on  this  head,  more 
especially  as  there  are  other  means  by  which  the 
true  situation  of  a  vessel  might  be  determined,  and 
file  difficulty,  if  any  arose,  would  be  but  of  very 
short  continuance.  But  as  such  a  voyage  could  not 
fail  of  affording  many  new  lights  in  respect  to  astro- 
nomy and  geography,  so  in  this  respect  also  it  must 
necessarily  ascertain  fully  what  is  at  present  only 
matter  of  doubt  and  conjecture. 

As  notions  long  received  acquire  from  thence  a 
degree  of  credit  due '  only  to  truth ;  and  as  new 
opinions,  contrary  to  these,  and  in  other  respects 
perhaps  extraordinary  in  themselves,  meet  from  these 
causes  with  slow  and  difficult  belief,  however  they 
may  appear  to  be  supported  by  arguments,  authori- 
ties, or  facts,  (which  it  is  presumed  have  been  freely 
and  fairly  urged  in  the  present  case,  to  a.  degree  that 
may  at  least  entitle  the  matter  to  some  attention) 
let  us  now  proceed  one  step  farther.  This  shall  be 
to  show,  that  what  seems  to  be  so  repugnant  to  the 
common  course  of  things  {viz.  that  near  the  North  Pole 
the  cold  should  relax,  and  the  ice  be  less  trouble- 
some) is  perfectly  conformable  to  the  laws  of  nature, 
or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  to  the  will  and  wisdom 
of  our  great  Creator.  If  this  can  be  proved,  there 
can  be  no  farther  dispute  as  to  the  possibility  of  this 

*  See  the  honourable  Mr.  Boyle's  History  of  Cold,  in  respect  to 
this  and  a  multitude  of  other  curious  particulars,  which  show  with 
how  much  industry  and  care  he  struggled  to  deliver  truth  from  vul- 
gar errors  and  fiction. 


THE  NORTH  POLft.  106 

passage ;  more  especially  when  it  shall  also  appear, 
that  this  aiTords  a  full  solution  of  all  the  doubts  that 
have  been  suggested,  and  at  the  same  time  clearly 
accounts  for,  and  effectually  confirms,  the  facts  and 
reasonings  deduced  from  them,  which  have  been 
already  advanced  upon  this  subject.  To  come  then 
at  once  to  the  point. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  it  is  universally  allowed 
was  equally  accurate,  cautious,  and  judicious,  in  his 
philosophical  decisions,  hath  demonstrated  clearly, 
that  the  figure  of  this  our  earth  is  not  spherical,  but 
of  an  oblate  spheroidal  form,  the  diameter  at  the 
equator  being  the  greatest,  and  at  the  axis  the  least 
of  all  the  lines  that  can  pass  through  the  centre. 
He  also  determined,  by  a  most  curious  calculation, 
the  proportion  of  these  diameters  to  be  as  two 
hundred  and  thirty  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-nine. 
These  sentiments  of  his  have  been  experimentally 
verified  by  the  means  which  he  also  pointed  out,  viz. 
observing  the  motipn  of  pendulums  in  very  different 
latitudes,  and  the  actual  measurement  of  a  degree  at 
the  Equator  and  under  the  Arctic  Circle.  This  last 
evidently  proved  the  depression  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face towards  the  Pole,  which  no  doubt  gradually 
increases.  The  very  learned  and  sagacious  Dr. 
Hooke  asserted,  in  one  of  his  lectures,  and  brought 
very  strong  reasons  to  show,  that  there  is  nothing 
but  sea  at  the  Poles.*  These  points  then,  being 
maturely  considered,  will  be  found  to  militate  ia 
iavour  of  a  free  passage  this  way,  and  at  the  same 

*  Hooke's  Posthumous  Works,  p.  351. 
14 


106  ON  approachln'g 

time  give  much  light  into  other  things  that  have  been 
advanced  in  the  course  of  this  inquiry,  by  showing 
the  true  causes  of  those  facts  that,  at  first  sight,  have 
appeared  to  many  very  strange  and  unaccountable. 
For  example,  if  there  be  no  land  near  the  Pole,  then 
there  can  be  no  bays  in  which  ice  can  be  formed  to 
interrupt  the  navigation.  Again,  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
falling  on  so  flat  a  surface,  and  being  continually 
reflected  from  the  water,  must  afford  a  great  degree 
of  heat  to  the  air.  At  the  same  time  this  will 
account  for  the  sun's  being  seen  by  the  Dutch  in 
Nova  Zembla  a  fortnight  earlier  than  he  should  have 
appeared,  according  to  astronomical  calculations.* 
Many  other  circumstances  might  be  mentioned,  but 
these  will  doubtless  occur  to  the  intelligent,  and 
therefore  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  longer  upon 
them. 

The  great  injustice  of  rejecting  opinions,  on  ac- 
count of  their  appearing,  at  first  sight,  paradoxical, 
or  somewhat  inconsistent  with  notions  commonly 
received,  having  been  clearly  shown,  and  the  mis- 
chievous consequences  flowing  from  it  by  various 
instances  pointed  out;  the  foundation  of  this  con- 
jecture, that  there  may  be  a  passage  near  the  Pole, 
having  been  fairly  stated,  the  popular  objections  to 
it  clearly  removed,  the  general  advantage  that  might 
be  expected  from  thence  placed  in  a  proper  light, 
and  the  consistence  of  all  the  circumstances  relative 
thereto,  with  the  established  course  of  nature,  having 
been  also  rendered  evident;  there  can  be  nothing 

*  See  Purchas,  vol.  iii.  p.  409,  500. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  107 

more  looked  for  respecting  this  matter  merely  in  the 
light  of  a  philosophical  speculation. '  But  if  sup- 
porting this  had  been  the  only  motive,  these  reflec- 
tions had  not  employed  the  time  of  the  writer,  or 
trespassed  so  long  upon  the  reader's  patience.  What 
then  remains?  To  demonstrate,  that,  as  the  pos- 
sibility, practicability,  and  facility,  of  such  an  under- 
taking have  been  insisted  upon,  its  national  utility 
should  be  shown  to  deserve  consideration ;  and  that, 
as  it  is  an  object  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
public  welfare,  its  execution  should  be  no  longer 
delayed.  There  is  unquestionably  no  country  in 
Europe  so  well  situated  for  such  an  enterprise  as 
this.  The  trauttlt  from  Shetland  to  the  Northern 
parts  of  Asia  would,  by  this  way,  be  a  voyage  only 
of  a  few  weeks.  The  inhabitants  of  these  islands 
and  of  the  Orkneys  are,  and  have  been  for  many 
years,  employed  in  the  Greenland  Fisheries,  and 
the  natives  of  these  isles  are  the  persons  mostly 
sent  to  the  establishments  in  Hudson's  Bay.  By 
these  means  they  are  inured  to  cold,  to  ice,  and 
hard  living,  and  are  consequently  the  fittest  for 
being  employed  in  such  expeditions.  When  this 
shall  be  once  executed  w  ith  success,  it  will  necessa- 
rily bring  us  acquainted  with  new  Northern  countries, 
where  ordinary  clothes  and  other  coarse  woollen 
goods  will  probably  be  acceptable,  new  channels  of 
commerce  would  be  thereby  opened,  our  navigation 
extended,  the  number  of  our  seamen  augmented, 
without  exhausting  our  strength  in  settling  colonies, 
exposing  the  lives  of  our  sailors  in  tedious  and  dan- 
gerous voyages  through  unwholesome  climates,  or 


108  ON  APPROACHING 

• 

having  any  other  trade  in  prospect  than  of  exchang- 
ing our  native  commodities  and  manufactures  for 
those  of  other  countries.  This,  if  it  could  be  brought 
about,  would,  in  the  first  instance,  convert  a  number 
of  bleak  and  barren  islands  into  cultivation,  connect 
them  and  their  inhabitants  intimately  with  Britain, 
give  bread  to  many  thousands,  and  by  providing 
suitable  rewards  for  manj^  different  species  of  indus- 
try, encourage  population^  and  put  an  easy  and 
effectual  period  to  the  mischiefs  and  scandal  of 
emigrations.  The  benefits  derived  from  these  dis- 
coveries, and  the  commerce  arising  from  them,  will 
necessarily  extend  to  all  parts  of  our  dominions.  For 
hoM'^ever  fit  the  poor  peuple  of  those  islands  may  be 
for  such  enterprises,  or  however  commodious  the 
ports  in  their  countries  may  be  found  for  equipping 
and  receiving  vessels  employed  in  these  voyages,  yet 
the  commodities,  manufactures,  &c.  must  be  furnished 
from  all  parts  of  the  British  empire,  and  of  course  be 
of  universal  advantage.  These,  as  they  are  true, 
will  it  is  hoped  appear  just  and  cogent  reasons  for 
wishing,  that  a  project,  which  has  dwelt  in  the 
mouths  and  memories  of  some,  and  in  the  judgment 
and  approbation  of  a  few,  from  the  time  of  Henry 
the  Eighth,  should  be  revived,  and,  at  length,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  subjects,  carried  into  effect,  under 
the  auspices  of  George  the  Third. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  109 

I  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding  sheets*  that  I 
expected  some  additional  instances  of  Dutch  ships, 
which  had  been  in  high  Northern  latitudes ;  but, 
though  I  delayed  the  publication  for  some  weeks, 
they  did  not  arrive  time  enough  to  appear  with  the 
others.  I  have  however  since  received  them 
from  Professor  Allamand  of  Leyden,  F.R.3.,  by 
means  of  Mr.  Valltravers,  F.R.S.,  &c.,  and  take 
the  earliest  opportunity  to  lay  them  before  the 
pubhc,  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  former 
papers. 

TO  THE  HONOURABLE  DAINES  BARRINGTON. 
sm. 

Having  ma^e  some  inquiries  (agreeable  to  y©ur 
desire)  from  Professor  Allamand,  of  Leyden,  F.R.S. 
with  regard  to  Dutch  Navigators,  who  have  reached 
high  Northern  latitudes;  he  has  been  so  kind  to 
send  me  the  following  account,  drawn  up  by  Captain 
William  May,  a  .very  distinguished  and  experienced 
eea-officer  in  the  Dutch  service,  which  begins  with  » 
letter  from  Mr.  John  Walig  to  his  owners,  who  has 
been  master  of  a  Greenland  ship  ever  since  the  year 
.1740. 

I  am,  ^c. 

ROD.  VALLTRAVERS^. 

**  In  the  addi^oaal  papers  from  Hull,  p.  65. 


110  ON   APPROACHING 


"  TO  MESS.  NIC.  AND  JACOB  VAN  STAPHORST. 

"^  IlelJer,  Jan.  3,  1775^ 

«  In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  22d  of  Decem- 
ber concerning  the  question,  whether  we  have  been 
nearer  to  the  Pole  than  80^°,  I  must  inform  you,  that 
we  have  been  often  to  81",  near  the  Seven  Isl- 
ands, to  the  Northward  of  the  Northeast  Land,  and 
some  have  been  in  82°,  but  then  not  clear  from 
ice,  in  which  they  drove  about.  I  never  heard  of 
any  discoveries  made  there,  as  they  have  always  been 
fishers,  who,  driving-  with  the  ice  to  the  Northward, 
leave  that  direction  upon  getting  room ;  and  when 
now  and  then  the  sea  has  been  free  from  ice,  that 
has  happened  commonly  in  the  months  of  June  and 
July.  In  1763,  I  spoke  with  a  Scotch  Captain  in 
Greenland,  who  told  me  he  had  been  to  83°,  that  the 
sea  was  then  free  from  ice,  but  that  he  had  made  no 
discoveries,  without  mentioning  any  more  particulars, 
for  we  ask  after  nothing  but  whales.  When  I  spoke 
to  him  it  was  in  July,  and  then  we  could  get  no 
farther  North  than  79°  30'  for  the  ice.  In  short,  we 
can  seldom  proceed  much  higher  than  80F,  but 
almost  always  to  that  latitude,  for  it  seems  that  the 
conjunction  of  the  currents  often  fastens  the  ice  there. 
I  fished  last  year  from  80°  25'  to  80°  35',  according  to 
the  land  we  made  afterward. 

^'  But  in  the  year  1707,  Captain  Cornelius  Gillis, 
having  gone  without  any  ice  far  to  the  Northward  of 
81°,  sailed  to  the  North  of  the  Seven  Islands,  pro- 
ceeded from  thence  East,  and  afterward  Southeast, 
remaining  to  the  ^East  of  the  Northeast  Land,  when 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  Ill 

coming  again  to  latitude  80°  he  discovered  about 
twenty-five  miles*  East  from  the  country  to  the  North- 
east very  high  lands,  on  which,  as  far  as  we  know, 
no  body  has  ever  been.  As  to  the  season  when  the 
Spitzbergen  seas  may  be  expected  to  be  free  from 
ice,  I  believe,  according  to  my  observations,  that  the 
most  open  sea  to  the  Northward  generally  happens 
in  the  month  of  September,  but  then  the  nights  begin, 
and  make  the  navigation  dangerous. 

"  I  am,  &:c. 

«  JOHN  WALIG." 

*  Fiftf  en  to  a  degree,  at  the  Equator. 


A  SHORT 


ACCOUNT  OF  NAVIGATORS, 


WHO  HAVE  REACHED 


HIGH  NOliTHERN  LATITUDES  * 


>^<^« 


I  WENT  to  Amsterdam  the  26th  of  March,  being  the 
most  ptoper  time  to  make  the  desired  inquiries,  and  to 
obtain  information  from  all  the  commanders  that  were 
to  depart  this  year  to  Greenland;  for  then  you  meet 
six,  eight,  and  more  together,  in  houses  where  they 
enlist  their  men.  I  am,  however,  sorry  to  mention, 
that  but  few  of  those  commanders  keep  journals 
when  they  are  near,  or  in  the  ice ;  but,  notwithstand- 
ing this,  the  accounts  they  give  carry  with  them  such 
an  air  of  truth,  from  being  confirmed  by  minute  cir- 
cumstances, and  corroborated  by  so  many  witnesses, 
tliat  tliese  relations  (I  verily  believe)  may  be  de- 
pended upon  as  well  as  some  journals.  I  particu- 
larly applied  myself,  however,  to  those  to  whom  a 
great  number  of  voyages  had  given  experience,  and 
(contrary  to  my  expectations)  met  with  men  of  can- 

*  This  account  was  drawn  up  by  Captain  William  May,  in  the 
service  of  the  States,  at  the  desire  of  Professor  Allamand  of  Leyden. 
—See  p.  7G. 

15 


114  ON  APPROACHING 

dour  and  penetration.  I  thought  it  proper  likewise, 
to  take  the  following  extract  of  a  Journal,  it  showing 
the  common  form  in  which  some  of  them  are  kept. 

Translation  of  a  part  of  a  Journal,  kept  on  hoard  the  Vrovo  Marta^ 
Commander  Martin  Breet. 

N.  B.  The  sun's  altitudes  were  taken  with  an  octant, 
and  twelve  minutes  allowed  for  the  snn's  semi- 
diameter,  refraction,  and  dip  of  the  horizon ;  the 
longitude  from  Teneriffe;  the  miles  fifteen  to  a 
degree  at  the  Equator ;  the  bearings  with  a  com- 
pass unrectified. 

The  22d  of  April,  1771,  sailed  from  the  Texel  for 
Greenland.  8th  of  May,  latitude,  according  to  the 
run,  70°  33',  longitude  19°  22';  saw  the  first  ice. 

13th  ditto,  latitude  74°  50',  longitude  24°  35';  met 
with  a  border  of  ice. 

14th  ditto,  latitude  by  observation  75°  44',  longi- 
tude 26°  13';  came  against  some  ice. 

15th  ditto,  latitude  76°  13',  longitude  25°  40';  saw 
Spitzbergen,  the  South  Cape;  bore  East  Northeast 
fourteen  miles. 
N.  B.     Drove  about  in  the  ice ;  made  fast  to  a  field. 

25th  ditto,  in  the  morning  saw  the  North  Foreland. 
Northeast  by  East,  latitude  79°  12',  longitude  20°  40'. 

26th  ditto,  longitude  by  observation  79°  10'. 

27th  ditto,  against  the  ice. 

28th  ditto,  passed  through  some  Ice. 

29th  ditto,  got  fast  in  the  ice ;  saw  two  ships  sail- 
ing pretty  freely  in  the  East  Northeast. 
N.  B.  In  the  ice  till  the 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  1 15 

7  til  of  June,  got  more  room ;  beat  to  the  Southward, 
and  made  fast  to  a  field ;  saw  land  in  the  East  North- 
east, distance  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles ;  supposed  it 
the  Quade  Hoek,  latitude  by  obsenation  79°  58'; 
made  fast  to  the  ice  till  the  • 

11th  June,  at  noon;  a  violent  storm,  wind  South- 
west, latitude  by  observation  80°  19'.  In  the  night, 
drove  towards  the  coasts,  for  it  blew  too  hard  to  carry 
sail. 

12th  ditto,  in  the  morning,  laid  fast  in  the  ice, 
the  storm  continued,  and  the  ship  so  much  pressed 
by  the  ice,  that  we  were  obliged  to  unhang  the 
rudder. 

13th  ditto,  hard  pressed  by  the  ice,  latitude  by 
observation  80°  29'.  Remained  pressed  by  the  ice 
till  the 

1 8th  ditto,  latitude  by  observation  80°  50' ;  the  ship 
not  moveable. 

19th  ditto,  latitude  by  observation  80°  57';  the  ice 
in  great  motion. 

20th  ditto,  fast  in  the  ice  again,  latitude  by 
observation  80°  58';  calm  till  the 

24th  ditto,  began  to  blow  a  storm;  got  some  room 
in  the  ice. 

25th  ditto,  having  got  more  room  we  advanced. 

26th  ditto,  locked  up  again. 

27th  ditto,  saw  the  land,  namely,  the  Dorre  Hoek, 
South  by  East  half  East,  and  the  Vlakke  Hoek,  East 
Southeast ;  lay  beset  till  the 

29th  ditto,  latitude  by  observation  80°  16. 

30th  ditto,  wind  Northeast. 


116  '  OS  ArruoACiiiNG 

1st  of  July,  saw  water  in  the  West  Southwest, 
which  we  had  not  seen  for  many  days.  In  tlie  after- 
noon got  more  room. 

2d  ditto,  worked  our  way  through  as  much  ice  as 
we  could,  wind  East  Northeast,  towards  the  evening 
North ;  made  fast  to  a  field. 

3d  ditto,  at  noon,  saw  the  land,  being  the  Robbe 
Bay,  bearing  Southwest  by  West  about  one  mile. 

I  have  left  out  many  little  circumstances  respecting 
the  wind,  tides,  &c.,  as  thinking  the  above  sufficient  for 
ascertaining  the  latitudes,  and  to  show  the  method  in 
which  many  of  the  Greenland  Masters  keep  their 
Journals.  That  year  seems  to  have  been  favourable 
for  getting  more  to  the  North ;  for,  notwithstanding 
Mr.  Breet  met  with  so  much  ice,  from  the  latitude  of 
79''  30'  to  that  of  80°  58',  Captain  Jan  Klaas  Castri- 
cum,  in  the  ship  the  Jonge  Jan,  at  that  very  time  of 
the  year,  and  nearly  in  the  same  longitude,  reached 
81°  40',  by  the  medium  of  several  observations  with 
forestaffs,  where  he  fished  with  success,  in  company 
with  Witje  Jelles,  who  sailed  from  Hamburgh,  and 
found  but  little  ice.  There  were  likewise  two 
English  ships,  who  sailed  so  far  to  the  North,  that 
Castricum  lost  sight  of  them  from  the  'mast  head, 
which  two  ships  returned  in  something  more  than  two 
days,  and  the  Captains  came  on  board  of  Castricum,* 
and  assured  him,  that  they  had  been  to  upwards  of 

*  Captain  Castricum  neither  asked  their  names,  nor  those  of  their 
ships ;  all  that  he  knew  was,  he  said,  if  he  remembered  right,  they 
failed  from  England. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  117 

83°,  and  could  have  gone  much  farther,  as  they  had 
no  obstructions  from  ice,  but  finding  no  whales  they 
returned.  I  spoke  at  the  same  time  with  other  com- 
manders, who,  having  been  in  sight  of  those  ships, 
confirmed  Castricum's  account. 

Six  of  the  oldest  Masters  assured  me  (amongst 
whom  were  John  Walig,  Klaas  Keuken,  and  J.  Klaas 
Castricum,)  that  they  had  known,  from  1730  to  1742, 
an  old  English  commander,  whose  name  was  Krick- 
rack  J*  it  was  his  custom  between  the  fisheries,  if  not 
obstructed  by  ice,  to  sail  to  the  Northward;  and 
some  of  them  affirm,  that  when  they  have  been  at  an 
anchor  in  Brandcwyns  Bay,  he  once  stayed  away 
ten,  and  at  another  time  twenty  days,  before  his  re- 
turn, and  they  are  very  sure  that  he  reported  (and 
they  have  reasons  to  believe  him)  that  he  had  been 
two  degrees,  and  even  more.  North  of  the  Seven 
Islands.  All  I  could  farther  learn  of  this  Mr.  Krick- 
rack  was,  that  in  1740  he  was  jn  the  only  ship  sent 
from  England ;  that  for  several  voyages  he  had  the 
same  ship's  company;  that  in  or  about  1742  he  had 
the  command  of  a  transport,  on  board  of  which  ho 
lost  his  life  by  a  musket  ball :  they  were  certain  that 
he  kept  Journals,  out  of  which  they  think  much  light 
might  be  obtained. 

The  greatest  part  of  the  Dutch  commanders  live 
at  the  Helder.  Mr.  Walig  and  others  assured  me. 
that  the  most  Northern  voyage  then  ever  heard  oi'. 
and  on  which  they  could  with  certainty  depend,  was 

*  From  1736  to  1740,  most  of  the  Masters  of  English  Ships,  fittcit 
out  for  the  Greenland  Trade,  were  Dutchmen. 


118  ON  APPROACHING 

that  of  Jacob  Schol  in  1700,  who  had  been  so  far 
North,  that  on  his  return  he  sailed  with  a  fresh  gale 
of  wind,  due  South,  forty-eight  hours,  and  then  fell 
in  with  the  Seven  Islands ;  he  consequently  had  been 
(reckoning  that  run  at  only  four  Dutch  miles  an  hour, 
which  they  thought  too  little)  in  upwards  of  84*  North 
latitude.  As  Mr.  Schol  was  an  inhabitant  of  the  Hel- 
der,  they  told  me  that  they  would  strive  to  procure 
me  his  papers  from  his  heirs ;  and,  if  I  mistake  not, 
they  said  that  they  had  actually  seen  those  papers 
in  their  younger  days. 

Finding  that  Mr.  Van  Keulen  had  put  down  (in  his 
chart)  the  land  discovered  by  Captain  Gillis,  men- 
tioned in  Mr.  Walig's  letter,  I  went  to  him,  to  see  on 
what  foundation  he  had  placed  that  discovery ;  but 
as  those  papers  could  not  be  found,  I  applied  to  Mr. 
Walig,  who  told  me,  that  Mr.  Cornelius  Gillis  had 
been  an  inhabitant  of  the  Helder;  that  Walig, 
together  with  Mr.  Keuken,  Mr.  Baske,  and  others, 
since  dead,  had  often  examined  Gillis's  papers,  maps, 
&:c.,  and  found  that  he  was  an  enterprising  man,  and 
very  accurate  in  his  remarks  and  charts ;  that  his 
grandson  had  his  Journals  and  other  Papers  in  his 
possession;  and  his  granddaughter,  who  was  mar- 
ried to  an  officer  of  Walig's  ship  (who  had  formerly 
been  a  commander)  had  his  charts,  some  of  which 
that  officer  generally  took  with  him,  in  order  to  cor- 
rect them.  I  begged  hard  to  have  them,  if  only  for 
twenty-four  hours ;  and  next  morning  Mr.  Walig  put 
into  my  hands  the  original  draughts  of  all  the  dis- 
coveries Mr.  Gillis  ever  made  with  regard  to  Spitz- 
bersjen,  excepting  some  particular  drawings  of  bays 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  119 

and  views  of  land,  with  permission  to  keep  them  in 
my  possession  till  Mr.  Walig's  return  from  Green- 
land ;  copies  of  which  are  here  annexed,*  and  Mr. 
Walig  promised  to  procure  me,  if  possible,  all  the 
papers  of  that  old  commander,  before  he  left  the 
Texel,  which  I  hope  to  receive  in  a  few  days,  and 
shall  not  fail  in  sending  over  every  thing  I  find  mate- 
rial. Asking  what  particulars  Mr.  Walig  and  others 
remembered  out  of  those  papers,  they  gave  the  fol- 
lowing account.  That  Mr.  Gillis  passed  more  than  a 
degree  to  the  Northward  of  the  Seven  Islands,  with- 
out any  hinderance  from  ice ;  that  he  proceeded  East 
for  some  leagues  with  an  open  sea,  then  bent  his 
course  Southeast,  and  afterward  South ;  saw  in  the 
latitude  of  80°,  to  the  East,  very  high  land;  run 
through  the  East  coast  of  the  Northeast  land,  and 
entered  the  Waygat  Straits ;  came  to  an  anchor  in 
Lamber  Bay,  and  took  two  whales,  and  from  thence 
proceeded  to  the  Texel. .  Mr.  Baske  gave  also  an 
account  of  his  uncle's  having,  in  company  with  three 
ships,  entered  Way  gats  from  the  North,  and  advanced 
as  far  as  the  same  bay,  but  found  too  much  ice  to  get 
through,  of  which  the  other  three,  being  young  com- 
manders, made  a  trial.  The  North  passage,  how- 
ever, on  their  return  being  shut,  and  it  being  the 
beginning  of  September,  they  made  preparation  to 
leave  their  ships,  in  order  to  get  over  land  to  Smee- 
renberg,  but  the  ice  luckily  giving  way,  they  got  out 
to  the  Northward.     Mr.  Baske.  who  is  a  curious  man. 

*  These  were  copies  of  the  draughts  of  the  different  coasts  of 
Spitzbergcn,  of  which  Captain  Gillis  hath  taken  accufate  9Tjirv<^ys. 


120  ON  APPROACHING 

promised  me,  amongst  other  things,  his  thermome- 
trical  observations,  which,  by  the  conversation  I 
had  about  them,  I  have  reason  to  think  will  be 
accurate. 

After  having  passed  six  mornings  with  a  great 
number  of  our  commanders  quartered  in  different 
houses,  I  find,  that  scarcely  a  year  had  passed  but 
some  of  them  have  been  to  81°  North,  but  rarely 
found  the  seas  free  from  ice. 

This  is  all  the  information  I  have  been  able  to  pro- 
cure during  my  short  stay  at  Amsterdam,  which  I 
would  have  prolonged,  if  a  call  to  the  Hague  had 
not  prevented  me.  I  can  only  add,  that  waiting  upon 
Mr.  Boreel,  that  gentleman  promised  that  he  would 
order  a  search-  to  be  made  for  the  Journals  of  those 
ships,  which  were  formerly  employed  in  protecting 
our  Greenland  fisheries. 

I  must,  however,  not  forget  to  mention  a  particular 
that  Mr.  Van  Keulen  acquainted  me  with.  He  had, 
at  his  house  last  summer,  a  conversation  with  a  Rus- 
sian, who  had  passed  the  winter  last  year  in  Spitz- 
bergen,  and  gave  him  the  following  account.  That 
being  in  the  utmost  distress,  for  want  of  eatables,  on 
the  North  coast,  he  made  a  trial  to  get  with  his  boat 
towards  the  middle  of  the  island,  by  means  of  the 
Bay  of  Wyde  Bay  in  Gillis's  map,  into  which  he  pro- 
ceeded, till  to  his  great  surprise,  he  fell  into  Wybe 
Jansz's  Bay,  and  so  came  out  to  the  South  of  Spitz- 
bergen ;  but  he  had  taken  no  notice  of  the  depths  of 
water.  Being  questioned  as  to  that  particular,  he 
said  he  was  very  sure  that  he  did  not  pass  through 
the  Waygat€. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  121 

In  all  my  conversations  with  our  Greenland  com- 
manders, I  never  failed  to  ask  which  course  they 
would  take  to  reach  high  Northern  latitudes;  the 
result  was,    that  they  would  never  seek  it  to  the 
Westward  of  Spitzbergen,  but  run  out  to  the  North, 
from  the  West  coast  of  Nova  Zembla ;  Mr.  Baske's 
reasons  and  those  of  other  commanders  were, 
1st,   That  all  the  Western  coasts  of  the  Northern 
countries  were,  for  the  most  part,  free  from  ice, 
occasioned  by  the  Avinds  and  tides  chiefly  coming 
from  the  East,  which  experience  proves. 
2d,  That  the  ice  comes  originally  from  the  Tartarian 
rivers ;  for,  that  the  sea  never  freezes  but  where  it 
is  calm,  and  at  the  same  time  a  great  quantity  of 
snow  falls. 
3d,    That   near  the  Seven  Island,  navigators  often 
meet  with  a  great  Northeast  Swell,  which  proves, 
that  at  such  time  the  sea,  to  a  considerable  distance 
to  the  Northeast,  is  not  locked  up  by  the  ice. 
4th,    That   the  drift  wood  could  not   come  to  the 
Northward  of  Spitzbergen,  in  case  the  seas  be- 
tween the  North  of  x\sia  and  that  island  were  fro- 
zen;   whereas  a  great  quantity  of  that  wood  is 
driven  on  the  North  coast  of  Iceland,  which  is  a 
demonstration  that   the  currents   come  from   the 
Northeast. 
5th,  That  in  some  of  the  trees  the  marks  of  the  axe 
were  very  plain,  and   the  colour  of  the  wood  so 
fresh,  that  they  -certainly  had  not  been  six  months 
in  the  sea. 
6th,   That  some   whole  trees  appeared  with   buds 
thereon,  which  they  think  could  not  have  remained 

16 


122  ON  ArP<lOACHl>«i 

I 

80  fresh,  if  the  trees  had  been  a  year  in  the  salt 
water. 

7th,  That  the  East  of  Greenland  was  now  discovered 
to  the  latitude  of  79^°,  that  it  probably  extended 
farther  to  the  North  Northeast,  which  they  look 
upon  to  be  the  cause  of  the  stoppage  of  ice  be- 
tween that  coast  and  Spitzbergen,  and  the  reason 
why  they  never  find  a  Northwest  or  Northerly 
swell. 

8th,  That  generally  all  ships,  which  had  once  got  to 
the  North  as  far  as  82",  met  with  little  or  no 
obstructions  from  the  ice ;  and  more  arguments  to 
the  same  purpose.  There  were  some,  however, 
Avould  rather  make  the  trial  between  Spitzbergen 
and  the  land  discovered  by  Mr.  Gillis. 

N.  B.     They  knew  nothing  of  the  Papers  read  before 
the  Royal  Society. 

TO  ROD.  VALLTRAVERS,  ESQ.  &c. 

SIR, 

Professor  Allamand,  being  very  desirous 
that  the  inclosed  might  be  sent  to  you  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, has  obliged  me  to  draw  up  with  haste  the  above 
account  of  the  informations  I  received  at  Amsterdam. 
In  reading  it  over  and  comparing  it  with  my  notes,  I 
find  no  fault  as  to  the  facts  related,  whatever  there 
may  be  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  drawn  up ;  in 
case  the  whole  or  any  part  of  it  should  be  thought 
worth  publishing,  I  hope  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
have  it  corrected.* 

*  This  hath  been  done   in  some  trifling  particulars,  relative 
merely  to  the  style,  a«  Captain  May  is  nQt  a  native  of  England. 


THE  NbRtn  I'OLE.  12^3 

I  could  have  made  it  more  circumstftrttial,  as  my 
notes  are  very  full,  in  particular  with  regard  to  the 
reasons  our  commanders  gave  for  not  making  the 
trial  to  the  West  of  Spitzbergen,  &c. 

I  am  informed,  that  Mr.  De  Bougainville  intends 
to  go  by  the  way  of  Nova  Zembla* 
I  am,  with  profound  respect, 
Sir, 
Your  most  obedient  humble  Servant, 

WILLIAM  MAY. 

Leydeii,  Jipril  \\th,  1775. 


Thus  do  the  Dutch  seamen,  employed  in  the 
Greenland  fishery,  agree  with  our  own  countrymen, 
in  never  having  so  much  as  heard  of  a  perpetual  bar- 
rier of  fixed  ice,  to  the  Northward  of  Spitzbergen,  in 
80T°,t  which  indeed  is  one  of  their  most  common 
latitudes  for  catching  w  hales,  whilst  all  of  them  sup- 
pose the  sea  to  be  generally  open  in  those  parts,  and 
many  of  them  proceed  several  degrees  beyond  it. 

I  shall  only  add,  that,  in  my  former  pamphlet,^  I 
have  mentioned  a  fact  or  two  I  had  reason  to  expect 
from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tooke,  Chaplain  to  the  factory  at 
Petersburgh,  which  he  conceived  would  strongly 
prove  that  the  sea  is  open  to  the  Pole,  and  which  I 

*  This  voyage  of  discovery,  however,  did  not  take  place, 
t  One  of  them  indeed  says,  that  the  ice  frequently  packs  in  that 
latitude,  which  he   supposes  to  arise   from  the   meeting    of  two 
••'irrents. 

\  Page  47,  note. 


124  ON    APPROACHING 

have  since  received  in  a  letter  from  him  dated  the 
26th  of  May  last. 

Mr.  Tooke  hath  been  assured  by  several  persons, 
who  have  passed  the  winter  at  Kola  in  Lapland,  that 
in  the  severest  weather,  whenever  a  Northerly  wind 
blows,  the  cold  diminishes  instantly,  and  that,  if  it 
continues,  it  always  brings  on  a  thaw  as  long  as  it 
lasts. 

He  hath  also  been  informed  by  the  same  authority, 
that  the  seamen,  who  go  out  from  Kola  upon  the 
whale  and  morse  fisheries  early  in  March  (for  the  sea 
never  freezes  there,)  throw  off  their  winter  garments 
as  soon  as  they  are  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  wersts* 
from  land,  and  continue  without  them  all  the  time 
they  are  upon  the  fishery,  during  which  they  expe- 
rience no  inconvenience  from  the  cold,  but  that,  on 
their  return  (at  the  end  of  May,)  as  they  approach 
land,  the  cold  increases  to  such  a  severity,  that  they 
suffer  greatly  from  it. 

This  account  agrees  with  that  of  Barentz,  whilst 
he  wintered  in  Nova  Zembla,t  and  of  the  Russians  in 
Maloy  Brun ;  the  North  wind  cannot  therefore,  during 
the  coldest  seasons  of  the  year,  be  supposed  to  blow 
over  ten  degrees  of  ice. 

Governor  Ellis  indeed,  whose  zeal  in  prosecuting 
the  attempt  of  discovering  the  Northwest  passage 
through  Hudson's  Bay  is  so  well  known,  hath  sug- 
gested to  me  an  argument,  which  seems  to  prove  the 

*  Three  wersts  make  two  miles. 

t  See  Thoughts  on  the  Probability,  &c.,  of  reaching  the  North 
Pole. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  125 

absolute  impossibilily  of  a  perpetual  barrier  of  ice 
from  SOh"  to  the  Pole. 

If  such  a  tract  hath  existed  for  centuries,  the 
increase,  in  point  of  height,  must  be  amazing  in  a 
course  of  years,  by  the  snoAv,  which  falls  during  the 
winter,  being  changed  into  ice,  and  which  must  have 
formed  consequently  a  mountain  perhaps  equal  to  the 
Peak  of  Teneriffe.*  Now  the  ice  which  sometimes 
packs  to  the  Northward  of  Spitzbergen,  is  said  com- 
monly not  to  exceed  two  yards  in  height. 

D.  B . 

*  Mr.  De  Luc  observes  also,  that  the  ice  upon  the  Glaciers  is 
always  increasing. — See  lii?  interesting  observations  on  those  moun- 
tains of  Switzerlnml. 


OBSERVATIONS 


FLOATING   ICE, 

If  HICK  IS  rOUND  J\ 

HIGH  NORTHERN  AND  SOUTHERN  LATITUDES. 

ISlNCE  the  return  of  the  King's  ships  from  voyages 
of  discovery,  both  in  high  Northern  and  Southern  lati- 
tudes, I  have  found  that  it  hath  been  a  disputed  point, 
whether  the  ice  which  they  have  met  with  was  formed 
chiefly  from  the  salt  or  fresh  water.  I  should  rather 
conceive  that  this  doubt  must  have  arisen  from  what 
is  mentioned  by  the  great  Mr.  Boyle,  in  his  experi- 
ments on  heat  and  cold ;  or  from  an  observation  of 
M.  Adanson,  at  the  end  of  his  voyage  from  Senegal, 
because  from  the  quantity  of  ice  merely  (at  least  to 
the  Northward^  the  early  navigators  never  conceived 
that  it  was  produced  from  sea  water. 

In  full  proof  of  this,  not  to  state  the  opinion  of 
several  others  on  the  same  head,  I  shall  content 
myself  with  citing  that  of  Sir  Martin  Frobisher,  who 
is  well  known  to  have  made  three  successive  voyages 
to  Greenland,  with  a  farther  intent  of  discovering  the 
Northwest  passage  from  Europe  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 


128  ON  APPROACHING 

In  the  second  voyage  of  this  celebrated  navigator, 
he  observes : — 

"We  found  none  of  these  islands  of  ice  salt  in 
taste,  whereby  it  appears  that  they  were  not  of  the 
ocean  water  congealed,  which  is  always  salt,  but  of 
some  standing  or  little  moving  lakes;  the  main  sea 
freezes  not,  and  therefore  tliere  is  no  Mare  Glqciaky 

In  his  third  voyage  he  most  anxiously  repeats  this 
same  opinion,  and  in  still  stronger  terms,  so  that 
what  he  hath  thus  laid  down  was  not  an  occasional 
observation  merely,  but  what  he  had  much  reflected 
upon,  and  found  to  be  confirmed  by  his  experience 
in  those  Northern  seas  * 

This  opinion  of  Sir  Martin  Frobisher's  seems  not 
to  have  been  disputed  by  any  one,  till  the  time  of 
Mr.  Boyle,  who  observes,  that  there  are  several  in 
Amsterdam,  who  used  to  thaw  the  ice  of  sea  water 
for  brewing,  and  then  cites  Bartholinus  De  JVivis  urn. 
'-'•  De  glacie  ex  aqua  marina,  certiim  est  si  resolvatur,  sal- 
sum  saporem  deposuisse,  quod  non  ita  pridem  expertus  est 
Clarissimus  Finkius  in  glaciei  frustis,  ex  ptortu  nosfro 
aHaiisy^ 

I  shall  not  now  criticise  either  what  falls  from  Mr. 
Boyle  himself,  or  from  Bartholinus,  though  it  is  very 
clear  that  the  ice  alluded  to  by  both  must  have  pro- 
bably been  formed  from  fresh  water,  either  in  the 
rivers  or  lakes,  which  empty  themselves  into  the  Zuy- 

*  See  Hakluyt,  vol.  ii.  p.  G2  and  67.  In  1776,  Mr.  Marshall, 
Capt-ain  of  a  Greenland  ship,  was  so  good  as  to  bring  me  a  bottle  of 
water,  which  was  melted  from  ice  found  floating  in  the  Spitzbergen 
seas,  £^nd  which  had  not  the  least  saline  taste. 

t  Boyle's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  264.  folio. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  129 

der  Sea,  because  I  shall  hereafter  contradict  the 
assertion  of  Bartholinus,  by  the  actual  experiment, 
which  I  have  tried  myself  during  the  late  hard  frost. 

To  do  justice  indeed  to  Mr.  Boyle,  he  afterward, 
upon  more  mature  consideration,  shows  it  to  be  his 
opinion,  agreeable  to  that  of  Sir  Martin  Frobisher, 
that  the  fresh  water  obtained  from  ice  floating  in  the 
sea  proves  it  could  not  have  been  formed  from  the 
ocean,  "because  the  main  sea  is  seldom  or  ever 
frozen."* 

The  next  author  who  supposes  that  congealed  sea 
water  is  by  this  process  rendered  sweet  to  the  taste, 
is  M.  Adanson,  who  informs  us,  that,  upon  his  return 
from  Senegal  in  1748,  he  carried  two  bottles  of  sea 
water,  taken  up  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  from  Brest  to 
Paris,  which,  during  an  intense  frost,  was  so  frozen 
as  to  burst  the  bottles,  and  the  tontents  afterward 
became  palatable.f 

To  this  fact  I  shortly  answer,  lither  that  the  bot- 
tles were  changed,  or  otherwise  that  M.  Adanson 
does  not  mention  the  circumstance  by  which  the  taste 
of  the  sea  water  was  thus  altered  upon  its  being  dis- 
solved. Mr.  Nairne  hath  been  much  more  accurate 
in  stating  his  experiments  with  regard  to  the  freezing 
sea  water,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society 
on  the  2d  of  February,  1776,  as  he  mentions,  that, 
in  order  to  clear  the  ice  from  any  brine  which  might 
adhere  to  it,  he  washed  it  in  a  pale  of  pump  water  for 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,  after  Avhich  he  informs  the 


*  Boyle's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  302. 

t  Voyage  an  Senegal,  p.  ino. 

17 


130  Ox\  APPROACHING 

Society,  that  to  his  palate  it  was  perfectly  free  from 
any  taste  of  salt. 

This  is  most  undoubtedly  the  fact,  but  Mr.  Nairne 
does  not  seem  to  be  aware  from  what  circumstance 
the  ice  thus  melted  had  become  freshwater;*  and 
indeed  I  must  admit,  that  upon  the  first  experiment 
which  1  made  with  regard  to  freezing  sea  water,  I 
deduced  the  same  inference  that  he  hath  done,  having 
washed  it  in  fresh  water  for  the  same  reason  that  he 
did,  viz.  to  get  rid  of  the  brine  which  might  adhere 
to  the  surface  of  the  ice. 

To  determine,  therefore,  whence  this  freshness  in 
the  thawed  ice  might  arise,  I  placed  a  large  piece  of 
what  remained  frozen  (without  being  washed  at  all 

*  As  Mr.  Nairne,  in  his  letter  to  Sir  John  Pringle,  says,  that  one 
of  his  great  reasons  fdir  trying  these 'experiments  was  to  determine 
whether  the  ice,  which  floats  in  the  Northern  seas,  is  formed  from 
the  salt  water  or  not,  he^herefore  should  have  thawed  the  ice  pre- 
cisely under  the  same  circumstances  with  the  sea  water  adhering,  as 
the  navigators  take  it  up.  The  truth  is,  that,  if  the  piece  of  ice 
formed  from  sea  water  is  at  all  large,  the  adhering  salt  water  can 
scarcely  effect  the  taste  at  all ;  and  I  have  melted  the  central  parts 
of  a  pretty  large  mass,  which  became  very  salt  after  dissolution, 
though  entirely  detached  from  the  sea  water  in  which  it  had  been 
frozen.  "In  the  severe  frost  last  January  {viz.  1775,)  some  salt 
water,  being  set  abroad,  froze  into  an  ice,  which  was  not  solid  but 
porous,  the  hollows  being  filled  with  the  saltest  part  of  the  water, 
for  the  ice  when  drained  was  quite  fresh.  The  salt  water  being  again 
set  abroad,  froze  as  before,  what  remained  still  unfrozen  was  now 
become  exceeding  salt,  but  the  ice  drained  and  dissolved  was  littJc 
if  at  all  brackish  ;  by  this  experiment,  if  another  time  more  full^ 
repeated,  it  may  be  found  to  what  degree  the  saltness  of  water  may 
be  increased,  by  continuing  to  freeze  away  the  fresh  water." — Mr. 
Barker  in  Phil.  Trans,  vol.  Ixvi.  p.  ii.  1776.  p.  373. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  131 

in  pump  water)  to  be  dissolved  before  the  fire,  which 
tasted  very  salt,  as  one  might  naturally  suppose. 

The  weather  continuing  to  be  very  severe,  I  froze 
more  sea  water,  repeating  the  experiment  of  freshen- 
ing it  or  not,  by  leaving  or  not  leaving  it  in  pump 
water,  which  always  turned  out  uniformly  to  be  the 
same ;  and  the  reason  of  which  is  the  following : — 

When  sea  water  is  frozen,  it  does  not  form  ice 
similar  to  that  from  fresh  water,  being  by  no  means 
so  solid  or  transparent,  as  it  consists  of  thin  lamina? 
or  plates,  between  which  the  brine  is  deposited,  and 
if  the  ice  is  accurately  examined,  the  small  portions 
of  brine  between  the  plates  may  be  easily  distin- 
guished. If  this  brine  therefore  is  removed,  the 
lamina?  of  ice  when  dissolved,  becomes  sweet  to  the 
taste,  but,  if  thawed  together,  with  the  brine  inter- 
cepted between  the  lamina;,  the  taste  is  salt,  nor  can 
the  ice  be  considerably  divested  of  the  brine,  by 
merely  leaving  it  to  drain. 

Having  satisfied  myself  thus  far  from  the  freezing 
sea  water  by  the  natural  cold,  and  under  the  com- 
mon circumstances  of  exposing  it  to  the  air  in  small 
china  cups,  I  applied  to  Dr.  Higgins  to  prosecute 
these  trials  with  his  more  ample  apparatus,  and 
knowledge  of  chymistry ;  who  was  immediately  so 
good  as  to  suggest  and  try  the  following  experiments, 
which  will  throw  farther  light  upon  this  subject.* 

*  It  would  be  great  injustice  to  Mr.  Lomonosoflf,  a  Swedi:*!! 
rhymist,  not  to  mention  that  he  seems  to  have  tried  experiments 
similar  to  those  which  I  have  made  myself,  and  found  the  result  to 
be  as  I  have  stated  it.  Collection  Academique,  torn.  xi.  p.  5.  et  seq. 
4to.  Paris,  1772. — See  also  the  Probability  of  reaching  the  North 
Pole  discussed. 


132  ON  APPROACHING 

"January  2d,*  1776.  A  gallon,  Winchester  mea- 
sure, of  sea  water,  which  I  had  fresh  imported  from 
Mr.  Owen  in  Fleet-Street,  was  placed  in  a  shallow 
dish  of  Welsh  ware,  glazed  yellow;  the  depth  of  the 
water  was  three  inches  and  a  half  in  this  shallow 
dish,  which  I  marked  A,  and  placed  on  a  brick  wall 
eight  feet  high  above  the  ground  behind  my  house. 
This  wall  on  the  Eastern  side  faces  the  gardens 
belonging  to  five  or  six  houses  in  the  same  street  with 
mine ;  and  on  the  Western  side  of  it  is  the  area 
between  my  house  and  the  elaboratory ;  and  West- 
ward of  my  area  is  the  garden  of  Messrs.  Wedgwood 
and  Bentley,  which  I  believe  is  forty  feet  wide, 
bounded  on  the  West  by  high  buildings. 

"  At  the  same  time  1  placed  another  gallon  of  the 
same  sea  water  in  a  glass  body.  The  column  of 
water  in  this  vessel  was  about  thirteen  inches  high, 
about  six  inches  diameter  at  the  base,  and  about 
three  inches  at  the  mouth  of  the  vessel.  I  placed 
this  body  with  the  sea  water  close  by  the  vessel 
marked  A;  so  that  both  were  equally  distant  from 
the  adjoining  houses;  and  after  marking  the  glass  body 
B,  I  covered  the  vessels  A  and  B  with  glass  basons 
in  such  a  manner,  that  the  air  might  communicate 
with  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  rain  or  snow  might 
be  excluded. 

"A  Thermometer  was  placed  between  these 
vessels. 

"  From  the  2d  to  the  7th  of  January,  the  mercury 
in  the  thermometer  stood,  at  various  times,  as  low  as 

*  Mr.  Nairne  began  his  experiments  at  the  latter  end  of  this 
month. 


THf:  NORTH  POLE.  133 

oV  of  Fahrenheit;  and  Thames  water,  in  shallow 
wooden  vessels,  placed  on  the  ground,  near  the  wall 
above-mentioned,  was  often  frozen  to  the  thickness 
of  a  crown  piece.  But  an  earthen  oil  jar  containing 
twenty  gallons  of  Thames  water,  and  a  like  jar  con- 
taining twenty  gallons  of  distilled  water,  and  each 
covered  with  a  pewter  dish,  preserved  the  water 
contained  in  them  from  freezing  during  this  interval. 

"  About  the  7th  of  January,  the  mercury  in  the 
course  of  twenty-four  hours  did  not  rise  above  31°, 
but  sometimes  sunk  to  30°.  Ice  was  formed  in  the 
vessel  marked  A,  but  none  in  the  vessel  marked  B. 
Ice  was  at  the  same  time  formed  in  the  great  jars 
containing  Thames  water  and  distilled  water;  and  to 
a  thickness  much  greater  in  the  Thames  water  than 
in  the  water  distilled.  The  ice  obtained  from  the 
vessel  A  was  all  formed  on  the  surface  of  the  water ; 
and  consisted  of  thin  lamina)  adhering  to  each  other 
weakly,  and  intercepting  in  their  interstices  a  small 
portion  of  water,  which  was  saline  to  the  taste. 
This  ice,  beaten  gently  with  a  glass  pestle  to  divide 
the  laminae,  then  drained,  and  then  washed  in  dis- 
tilled water,  tasted  like  the  ice  of  fresh  water;  and 
being  placed  in  a  glass  funnel  before  a  culinary  fire, 
so  that  the  water  might  drain  off  as  soon  as  formed, 
it  dissolved  in  half  an  hour,  and  not  in  less  time, 
although  the  thermometer  placed  at  the  same  dis- 
tance close  to  the  funnel  rose  to  a  hundred  and  sixty; 
and  the  side  of  the  funnel  next  to  the  fire  was  hot  to 
the  like  degree,  as  nearly  as  could  be  ascertained  by 
the  touch.  The  water  of  the  ice  thus  melted  was 
fresh  and  palatable,  and  measured  half  a  pint. 


134  ON  APPROACHlMti 

"  From  the  9th  of  January  to  the  11th  inclusive, 
the  mercury  rose  some  days  to  forty,  and  during 
three  or  four  hours  on  other  days  it  sunk  and  re- 
mained at  thirty,  and  sometimes  for  an  hour  or  less 
it  sunk  to  twenty-nine.  But  it  did  not  remain  at 
thirty  during  any  of  these  days  for  more  than  four  or 
five  hours,  unless  at  the  hours  of  rest,  when  no  ob- 
servation was  made.  During  this  period,  a  thin  coat 
of  ice,  like  the  former,  was  produced  on  the  water 
in  the  shallow  vessel  A ;  but  no  ice  was  formed  in 
the  vessel  B. 

"  January  12,  the  thermometer  pointed  for  several 
hours  between  thirty-one  at  the  highest,  and  twenty- 
nine  at  the  lowest.  A  thick  crust  of  ice,  of  the 
texture  before  described,  was  formed  in  the  vessel 
A.  This  ice,  broken,  washed,  and  dissolved,  became 
fresh  water,  measuring  a  pint  or  more.  This  quan- 
tity of  ice,  placed  in  a  funnel  before  a  fire,  in  the 
circumstances  already  described,  was  not  all  dis- 
solved in  an  hour  and  ten  minutes.  No  ice  was 
formed  in  the  vessel  B.* 

"  January  the  13th  at  night,  and  14th  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  thermometer  sunk  for  some  hours  below 
twenty-seven,  and  did  not  rise  during  sixteen  hours 
above  twenty-eight.  The  water  in  the  vessel  A, 
remaining  after  the  foregoing  congelations,  was 
frozen  to  the  thickness  of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in 

*  "  The  foregoing  observations  were  committed  to  writing  on 
the  days  when  they  were  respectively  made,  but  the  day  of  the 
month  was  not  then  accurately  noted.  It  may  therefore  be  found 
that  I  have  placed  some  of  the  foregoing  temperatures  a  day  before 
«r  after  that  on  which  they  were  observed." 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  135 

the  centre,  and  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  the  cir- 
cumference ;  but  no  ice  was  formed  at  any  greater 
depth  in  the  water.  This  ice,  hke  the  former,  was 
laminated,  and  when  bruised  and  washed,  it  formed 
fresh  water  to  the  quantity  of  three  pints. 

"  On  the  same  day,  viz.  14th  of  January,  in  the 
morning,  the  thermometer  pointing  below  twenty- 
seven,  the  Thames  water  in  the  great  jar  was  frozen 
to  the  thickness  of  three  or  four  inches,  if  not  more, 
contiguous  to  the  jar  and  the  surface.  The  distilled 
Thames  water  in  the  other  jar  was  frozen  to  the 
thickness  of  two  inches,  or  thereabouts,  and  con- 
tiguous to  the  jar  and  surface  of  the  water ;  and  the 
sea  water  in  the  glass  body  marked  B  was  for  the 
first  time  frozen.  On  the  surface,  and  in  the  centre 
of  this  surface,  the  ice  was  half  an  inch  thick ;  at  the 
circumference  it  was  an  inch  thick ;  and  from  the 
circumference  and  surface  the  ice  formed  contiguous 
to  the  glass,  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  crust  was  an 
inch  thick  near  the  glass  and  surface ;  but  as  it  pro- 
ceeded downwards  towards  the  wider  part  of  the 
glass,  it  tapered  to  an  edge,  terminating  within  an 
inch  of  the  bottom  of  the  vessel. 

"  Thus  all  the  ice  was  formed  on  I  lie  surface  and 
contiguous  to  the  glass,  and  was  tliickest  where  the 
vessel  was  narrowest ;  that  is  the  quantity  of  ice  was 
inversely  as  the  diameter  of  the  vessel.  This  ice 
r(?sembled  that  obtained  in  the  shallow  vessel  in  its 
laminated  structure  and  sponginess,  and  in  its  enve- 
loping a  portion  of  the  salt  water,  with  this  difference 
only,  that  the  lamina*  shot  vertically,  and  from  the 
circumference,  inclining  towards  the  centre,  not  di- 


136  ON   APPROACHING 

rectly,  but  so  as  to  form  with  the  centre  an  angle  ot 
about  fifteen  degrees.  This  ice,  bruised  and  washed, 
melted  to  a  pint  and  a  half  of  pleasant  fresh  water. 
The  time  and  heat  were  nearly  the  same  as  I  de- 
scribed above. 

"  Mr.  Barrington,  at  this  and  former  periods  ob- 
served, that  the  separation  of  the  laminae  of  the  ice 
bj  bruising  accelerated  the  effect  produced  by 
washing ;  that  is,  the  extrication  of  the  intercepted 
brine. 

"  January  the  19th  at  night,  the  mercury  in  the 
thermometer  sunk  to  twenty-six.  The  sea  water, 
remaining  after  the  foregoing  congelations  in  the  flat 
dish  marked  A,  was  frozen  so  far,  that  only  a  pint 
remained  fluid  at  the  bottom.  This  ice  was  in  all 
respects  like  the  former  portions.  Bruised,  washed, 
and  melted,  as  on  former  occasions,  it  gave  a  quart 
of  fresh  water.  At  the  same  time  the  water  in  B  was 
frozen  in  the  manner  before  described,  but  in  a 
larger  quantity,  and  some  laminae  of  ice  shot  close  to 
the  glass  as  far  as  the  bottom  of  the  vessel.  This  ice 
bruised  and  washed  as  formerly,  and  placed  before 
the  fire  in  a  glass  funnel,  melted  in  a  heat  of  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty,  in  an  hour  and  a  half,  to  one  quart 
of  fresh  water. 

"  January  the  20th,  the  mercury,  which  stood  at 
twenty-seven  in  the  morning,  and  fell  to  twenty-six 
towards  twelve  o'clock,  fell  in  a  few  hours  to  twenty- 
four,  and,  before  nine  at  night,  fell  to  twenty-three. 
Only  a  thin  coat  of  ice  was  formed  on  the  water  in 
A,  which  I  did  not  disturb,  expecting  it  to  freeze 
deeper  during  the  night.     The  water  in  the  vessel 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  137 

B  was  frozen  to  some  thickness  at  the  surface,  and 
contiguous  to  the  sides  of  the  glass  body,  but  not  at 
the  bottom.  Expecting  a  stronger  congelation,  I 
suffered  this  also  to  stand  until  the  next  morning,  and 
consequently  could  not  determine  the  quantity  of  ice 
formed  in  it,  otherwise  than  by  feeling  near  the 
surface,  whereby  I  presumed  the  quantity  of  ice  to 
be  equal  to  that  last  obtained,  and  formed  in  the 
same  manner. 

"  January  the  21st  in  the  morning,  the  thermome- 
ter pointed  to  twenty-eight.  The  thin  crust  of  ice, 
observed  on  the  preceding  night,  did  not  appear  to 
be  increased  or  diminished  in  the  vessel  marked 
A.  The  lamina;  of  this  ice  adhered  so  weakly,  that 
the  whole  crust  could  not  be  raised  without  breaking. 
This  ice,  bruised  and  well  washed,  dissolved  to  near 
half  a  pint  of  water,  brackish  to  the  taste.  And  the 
same  day,  in  the  morning,  the  ice  in  B  was  removed, 
bruised,  and  washed  ;  it  melted  to  a  pint  or  more  of 
fresh  water." 

"  From  the  21st  to  the  26th  of  January,  the  water 
in  the  vessel  marked  B  was  frozen  twice,  and  the  ice 
formed  each  time  was  bruised  and  washed,  and 
melted  to  fresh  water,  both  portions  measuring  one 
pint  or  more. 

"  F'rom  the  26th  of  January  at  sun  set,  to  the  27th 
at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  mercury  in  the 
thermometer  stood,  at  the  usual  hours  of  observation, 
between  twenty  and  eighteen.  The  water  remaining 
after  the  foregoino;  conscelations  in  B  was  frozen  so 
far,  that  only  half  a  pint  remained  fluid.     The  ice, 

18 


138  ON  APPROACHING 

bruised,  washed,  and  dissolved,  tasted  a  little  brack- 
ish, and  measured  one  pint  and  a  half. 

"  On  the  28th  of  January  the  mercury  stood  in  the 
morning  and  until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  be- 
tween twenty-two  and  nineteen,  and  before  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  it  sunk  to  seventeen.  Very  little  ice 
was  formed  in  the  vessel  B ;  and  what  was  formed 
very  easily  crumbled  or  fell  to  small  flakes  in  at- 
tempting to  take  it  out.  I  therefore  suffered  it  to 
remain  in  the  liquor  until  the  morning. 

"  On  the  29th  of  January  the  mercury  stood  be- 
tween twenty  and  twenty-two  until  six  o'clock ;  and 
between  twenty  and  nineteen,  from  six  until  twelve 
at  night.  The  quantity  of  ice,  formed  on  the  pre- 
ceding day,  was  not  notably  augmented  or  diminished; 
bruised,  washed,  and  melted,  it  yielded  two  ounces 
of  water,  brackish  to  the  taste,  in  a  greater  degree 
than  any  of  the  foregoing  portions  which  were 
washed. 

"  On  the  30th  of  January,  finding  that  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  preceding  evening,  of  the  night,  and  of 
this  day,  which  was  between  nineteen  and  twenty- 
one,  had  caused  no  notable  congelation  in  the  small 
quantity  of  water  remaining  in  B ;  finding  also  that 
the  residue  of  the  water  in  A  admitted  of  no  farther 
congelation  worth  notice;  and  considering  that  the 
slender  laminae  of  ice,  lately  formed  in  these  waters, 
melted  to  salt  water,  and  consequently  that  no  farther 
congelation,  capable  of  separating  the  fresh  water 
from  the  brine,  even  with  the  assistance  of  washing, 
could  take  place ;  I  mixed  the  concentrated  brine  in 
A  with  that  in  B,  and  found  both  scarcely  measured 


THE    NORTH    POLE.  139 

a  wine  pint ;  some  small  crystals  were  found  in  the 
bottom  of  both  vessels,  which  sunk  in  the  brine,  and 
were  to  the  taste  sea  salt.  It  is  hence  evident  that 
some  sea  salt  is  formed  in  crystals  by  the  concentra- 
tion produced  by  cold  acting  gradually,  and  causing 
congelation  only  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  or  not 
affecting  that  part  of  it  w^hich  is  contiguous  to  the 
bottom  of  the  vessel. 

"  The  quantity  of  these  crystals  of  sea  salt  was 
about  two  grains.  I  poured  them  together  with  the 
water  into  a  china  plate,  set  in  a  sand  heat,  and,  by 
crystallization,  obtained  sea  salt  and  the  other  saline 
contents  of  sea  water,  in  a  dry  form,  near  two  ounces, 
avoirdupois. 

"  Now,  as  this  quantity  of  sea  water  (that  is,  two 
gallons)  taken  on  our  coast,  generally  yields  about 
seven  ounces  of  saline  matters,  it  appears,  that  two- 
thirds  or  more  of  the  sea  salt,  and  bitter  salts  of  sea 
water,  are  intercepted  in  the  ice  of  the  successive 
congelations,  and  are  washed  away  by  fresh  water, 
applied  as  above-mentioned.  Hence  we  learn  that 
sea  water  may  be  freshened  by  freezing,  provided 
the  brine  enveloped  between  the  laminae  of  its  ice  be 
washed  away.  And  in  cold  countries  salt  might  be 
prepared  from  sea  water  at  a  very  moderate  expense ; 
for  by  freezing  shallow  ponds  of  this  water,  by  turn- 
ing the  ice  to  drain  off  the  brine,  and  when  the  brine 
is  reduced  to  a  twentieth  part  or  less  by  evaporation, 
very  little  evaporation  and  fuel  will  be  necessary 
towards  the  formation  of  the  salt.*     But  all  the  salt 

*  "  Wallcrius  say;',  this  art  if  practised  in  the  Northern  coun- 
tries." 


140  ON  APPROACHING 

of  the  sea  water  employed  Mill  not  be  obtained, 
because  the  greater  part  of  it  will  be  retained  be- 
tween the  laminae  of  the  ice,  which  must  be  re- 
jected ;  and  the  concentration  by  freezing  cannot 
be  advantageously  carried  farther  than  is  above 
expressed,  because  at  that  degree  of  concentration 
the  cold,  and  the  time  necessary  to  cause  farther 
congelations,  must  be  very  considerable,  as  will  the 
waste  of  salt  likewise,  since  the  ice  is  then  strongly 
saline. 

"  A  small  portion  of  the  ice,  taken  at  various  times 
from  B  since  the  26th  of  Jaimary,  was  not  washed, 
but  only  left  to  drain  in  a  funnel ;  and  each  portion 
thus  drained  during  five  or  six  days,  being  separately 
dissolved,  tasted  strongly  of  salt,  although  the  like 
ice,  which  was  bruised  and  washed,  yielded  fresh 
water.  This  proves  that  washing  removes  the  inter- 
cepted brine ;  and  that  this  brine  does  not  separate 
by  draining. 

"  January  the  20th,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
the  thermometer  pointing  at  twenty-three,  in  the  open 
air  where  the  thermometer  stood,  T  mixed  snow  with 
smoking  spirit  of  nitre,  and  placed  in  the  mixture  a 
glass  half  pint  tumbler  full  of  sea  water ;  and  at  the 
same  time  placed  the  thermometer  in  the  mixture. 
In  two  minutes  the  mercury  sunk  out  of  the  tube 
quite  into  the  globe.  The  scale  extends  only  twenty- 
five  degrees  below  0  of  Fahrenheit ;  wherefore  I 
could  not  determine  how  many  degrees  lower  it 
would  have  sunk  on  a  more  extended  scale.  In  five 
minutes  some  slender  laminae  of  ice  began  to  shoot 
from  the  circumference  of  the  water,  and  adhered  to 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  141 

the  glass.  The  whole  water  was  not  frozen  in  less 
than  an  hour,  at  which  time  the  mercury  in  the  ther- 
mometer rose  to  twenty  degrees  below  0.  Having 
another  mixture  of  the  same  kind  ready  made,  I 
briskly  removed  the  tumbler  with  the  ice  it  contained 
into  the  fresh  mixture,  which,  like  the  former,  sunk 
the  mercury  into  the  globe. 

"  The  ice  of  sea  water  is  more  opaque  than  that  of 
fresh  water,  when  both  arc  naturally  congealed. 
For  the  elastic  fluid  in  common  water  forms  bubbles 
only  in  the  central  parts  of  the  water  last  frozen; 
but  the  ice  of  sea  water  consists  of  alternate  parts  of 
ice  and  brine ;  the  density  of  which  being  unequal, 
and  the  matter  of  them  being  also  dissimilar,  light 
cannot  be  freely  transmitted,  but  is  partly  reflected 
and  refracted,  according  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  ideas 
of  light. 

"  In  the  experiment  last  mentioned,  the  ice  was 
commonly  opaque  ;  and  when  it  was  exposed  to  the 
fresh  frigoriflc  mixture,  it  became  like  a  mass  of  snow 
compressed,  having  a  snowy  whiteness  and  opacity, 
perfect  nea:  the  surface,  but  not  perfect  toward  the 
bottom. 

"  The  tumbler,  with  the  ice  it  contained,  was  kept 
in  this  last  mentioned  mixture  an  hour,  when  the 
mercury  denoted  that  no  farther  degree  of  cold  could 
be  given  by  this  mixture.  The  tumbler  was  then 
placed  in  snow  until  the  next  day,  to  preserve  the 
ice  for  farther  observation.  Nothwithstandins;  the 
extreme  cold  to  which  it  had  been  so  long  exposed, 
and  the  cold  medium  in  which  it  was  placed,  the  ice 
was  not  solid  like  that  of  fresh  water,  but,  on  the 


142  ox  APmoACHivG 

contrary,  could  easily  be  cut  through  the  centre  of 
the  mass  with  a  knife.  The  ice  tasted  equally  of  salt 
through  the  whole  mass,  in  the  same  manner  as  a 
like  quantity  of  sea  water.  Bruised  briskly,  washed 
as  already  described,  and  melted,  it  yielded  fresh 
water  to  the  quantity  of  four-fifths  of  the  water  frozen; 
wherefore  in  washing  very  little  ice  was  dissolved 
whilst  the  salt  water  intercepted  in  the  ice  wag 
removed. 

"  Mr.  Barrington  having  observed  that  an  artificial 
freezing  commences  from  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the 
mass  of  water  placed  as  usual  in  the  frigorific  mix- 
ture, but  that  natural  freezing  commences  on  the 
surface  and  proceeds  downward  ;  and  it  occurring  to 
me  that  the  specific  gravity  of  incongelable  brine  is 
greater  than  that  of  the  congelable  water ;  and,  con- 
sequently, that  this  greater  specific  gravity  favours 
the  separation  of  brine  from  the  ice  of  sea  water, 
when  the  freezing  commences  on  the  surface  of  sea 
water,  and  may  be  an  impediment  to  the  separation 
©f  the  incongelable  brine  from  the  ice  artificially 
Ibrmed  in  the  sea  water,  when  the  congtllation  pro- 
ceeds from  the  bottom  upwards :  on  these  considera- 
tions it  seemed  that  the  foregoing  experiments  indi- 
cate, that  ice  formed  in  sea  water  cannot,  when 
melted,  become  fresh  water,  unless  it  be  washed  in 
fresh  water;  but  do  not  fully  prove,  that  ice  formed 
on  the  surface  only,  and  proceeding  slowly  down- 
wards, in  sea  water,  may  not  consist  of  fresh  water, 
and  be  freed  from  brine,  by  reason  of  the  specific 
gravity  of  brine  and  other  unnoticed  circumstances. 
Therefore,  on  the  21st  of  January,  at  two  o'clock. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  143 

when  the  mercury  stood  in  the  open  air  at  twenty- 
nine,  I  made  the  following  experiment,  with  a  view 
to  determine  whether  sea  water,  frozen  <irtifioially 
from  the  surface  downwards  in  the  manner  performed 
by  nature,  would  not  yield  ice  of  a  solid  texture 
capable  of  melting  to  fresh  w  ater  without  washing, 
merely  by  draining ;  which  must  take  place  in  moun- 
tains of  ice,  if  any  are  formed  in  the  Northern  Sea; 
because,  ice  being  specifically  lighter  than  water, 
and  the  access  of  congealed  water  being  at  the  base, 
the  portions  first  frozen  will  be  raised  above  the  water 
by  succeeding  portions  frozen,  and  thus  a  mountain 
of  ice  may  be  raised,  whose  mass  and  height  above 
water  will  be  to  the  massive  base  immersed  in  water, 
inversely  as  the  specific  gravity  of  ice  is  to  that  of 
water. 

"I  placed  therefore  a  gallon  of  sea  water  in  a 
glazed  earthen  vessel,  whose  diameter  was  one  third 
greater  than  the  depth  of  the  water.  In  this  water  I 
slung  a  thin  glass  bason,  cut  from  a  bolt  head,  capa- 
ble of  containing  near  tw^o  quarts  of  water,  in  such 
manner  that  it  might  be  immersed  two  inches  deep 
in  the  sea  water.  The  vessel  containing  the  sea 
water  was  surrounded  with  snow.  I  then  filled  the 
bason,  which  was  suspended  in  the  sea  water,  with 
snow  pressed  down  with  a  glass  pestle,  and  poured 
into  the  snow  the  usual  quantity  of  strong  nitrous 
acid. 

"In  fifteen  minutes  some  crystals  of  ice  were  formed 
on  the  interior  glass  bason,  in  the  part  where  it  was 
contiguous  to  the  surface  of  the  sea  water.  In  three 
hours  the  whole  bottom  of  the  bason,  containine;  the 


144  ON  APPROACniXG 

frigorific  mixture,  was  coated  with  ice,  the  thickness 
of  which  was  half  an  inch  or  less  at  the  bottom  of 
the  bason,  increasing  to  three-fourths  of  an  inch  at 
the  part  which  corresponded  with  the  surface  of  the 
water. 

"I  easily  separated  it  entire  from  the  bason, 
found  it  somewhat  firmer  in  its  aggregation  than  the 
ice  slowly  formed  by  natural  freezing,  and  not  com- 
posed of  laminae  like  this  latter,  but  similar  in  tex- 
ture to  the  salt  water  frozen  by  artificial  cold  applied 
in  the  usual  manner.  I  placed  it  on  a  heap  of  snow, 
where  it  remained  to  drain  upwards  of  six  hours,  but 
still  was  wet  to  the  touch  on  the  surface,  and  in  the 
fresh  surfaces  of  the  fractured  parts.  I  then  placed  a 
part  of  it  in  a  glass  funnel  before  the  fire,  to  melt, 
and  found  the  water  strongly  saline  to  the  taste,  but 
not  near  so  saline  as  equal  parts  of  sea  and  river 
water  mixed. 

"  Another  portion  of  this  ice,  which  was  wrapped 
tip  in  filtering  paper,  and  left  to  drain  on  a  heap  of 
dry  snow  during  four  days,  when  melted,  was  saline 
to  the  taste,  and  not  sensibly  diflferent  from  that 
which  had  drained  only  six  or  seven  hours.  Whence 
it  appeared,  that  ice  formed  in  the  sea  water,  in  cir- 
cumstances similar  to  those  which  attend  natural 
congelation,  is,  nevertheless,  saline  to  the  taste. 

"  The  several  portions  of  water  obtained  in  the 
foregoing  experiments,  from  the  washed  ice  of  the 
sea  water  in  A  and  B,  being  preserved  in  glass  stop- 
per bottles,  ^ere  not  examined.  Although  they 
were  fresh  to  the  taste,  it  appeared  by  the  quantity 
of  luno,  cornea.,  which  they  all  formed  with  saturated 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  145 

nitrous  solution  of  silver,  that  they  were  strongly 
impregnated  with  marine  salt,  comparatively  with 
Thames  and  New  River  water,  examined  in  the  like 
manner. 

"  Mr.  Harrington  observing,  that  salt  in  water  is  an 
impediment  to  the  congelation  of  that  water,  pre- 
sumed, that  salt  in  water  would  accelerate  the  thaw- 
ing of  ice  immersed  in  it ;  and  that  in  equal  tempe- 
ratures ice  would  be  tha^ved  in  sea  water  sooner 
than  in  fresh  water.  I  therefore  made  the  following 
experiment. 

"January  the  20th,  when  the  thermometer  pointed 
to  twenty-three,  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  I  placed 
five  ounces  and  half  a  drachm,  avoirdupois,  of 
Thames  water  in  a  half  pint  glass  tumbler ;  and  the 
like  quantity  of  the  same  water  distilled  in  another 
half  pint  glass  tumbler  of  equal  figure  and  capacity 
with  the  foregoing.  The  tumblers  were  placed  on 
the  wall  formerly  described,  and  left  there  covered 
with  glass  until  eleven  o'clock  next  morning. 

"  In  the  mortiing,  at  eleven  o'clock,  the  thermome- 
ter pointed  to  twenty-eight.  The  water  in  both  tum- 
blers was  frozen  quite  through,  and  formed  masses  of 
ice,  transparent  as  crystal  in  every  part,  except  the 
centre,  and  near  the  bottom,  which  parts  were  ren- 
dered opaque  to  the  thickness  of  half  an  inch,  by  a 
number  of  air  bubbles  locked  up  in  the  ice.  The 
distilled  water  had  been  kept  several  days  in  the  jar 
above  described,  whose  mouth  was  only  covered 
with  an  inverted  pewter  dish. 

"Into  a  glass  tumbler,  capable  of  holding  a  Win- 
chester pint  or  more  1  put  a  wine  pint  of  Tharaeg 

19 


146  ON  APPROACHING 

Water;  and  into  another  tumbler  of  the  same  figure  and 
capacity,  I  poured  a  pint  of  sea  water  concentrated, 
bj  freezing  one  fourth  of  it,  the  better  to  represent 
sea  water  of  the  great  oceans,  Avhich  are  not  affected 
by  rivers  so  much  as  the  sea  water  used  in  these 
experiments  must  be,  as  it  was  taken  up  near  the 
North  Foreland.     The  sea  water  was  thus  concen- 
trated for  these  farther  reasons :  first,  that  the  effect 
of  salt  in  the  water  might  be  more  conspicuous  dur- 
ing the  thawing  of  the  ice ;  and  secondly,  to  prevent 
the  first  portions  of  ice  thawed  from  diluting  the  salt 
water  to  a  degree  which  never  is  found  in  the  ocean. 
I  reduced  the  sea  and  the  Thames  water,  contained 
in  these  tumblers,  to  the  same  temperature  exactly, 
in  the  open  air ;  then  taking  hold  of  each  by  the  sum- 
mit of  the  glass  above  the  water,  I  carried  them  into 
my  study,  and  placed  them  on  a  carpet  fifteen  feet 
equally  distant  from  the  fire,  and  three  inches  from 
the  wainscot  of  the  wall  opposite  the  fire,  and  equally 
distant  from  a  door  on   one  side,    and  a  window, 
which  extends  within  fourteen  inches  of  the  floor,  on 
the  other.     The  tumblers  containing  the  frozen  water, 
were  immersed  in  a  large  pan  of  hot  water,  close 
to  each   other,   and  near  the  centre  of   the  pan, 
the  water  rising  to  the  height  of  the  ice  in  the 
tumblers ;  after  a  few  minutes  the  ice  was  thrown 
out,  by  inverting  the  glasses  on  clean  paper.     The 
two   pieces  of  ice  were   equal  in   size,  figure,  and 
weight;     the    weight   of  each   being   five    ounces 
avoirdupois. 

"  The  moment  before  the  ice  was  taken  out  of  the 
tumblers,  I  found  the  temperature  of  the  sea  and 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  147 

fresh  water,  placed  as  above-mentioned,  to  be  equal, 
and  exactly  thirty-four ;  the  temperature  of  the  air  in 
that  part  of  the  room  being  forty-six.  I  plunged  the 
pieces  of  ice  immediately,  one  in  the  sea  water,  the 
other  in  the  fresh  Avater.  It  was  at  this  instant  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  In  ten  minutes  the  tempe- 
rature of  the  sea  water  was  thirty-two,  that  of  the 
fresh  water  was  thirty-three  and  a  half  In  half  an 
hour  the  sea  water  raised  tlie  mercury  to  thirty-three 
the  fresh  water  raised  it  to  thirty-four  and  a  half 

"  At  this  instant,  viz.  half  an  hour  past  two  o'clock, 
I  took  both  the  pieces  of  ice  at  the  same  time, 
weighed  them  briskly,  and  replaced  them  in  their 
respective  vessels  at  the  same  instant.  Of  the  ice 
placed  in  the  sea  water,  half  an  ounce  was  dissolved; 
of  the  ice  placed  in  the  fresh  water,  only  four 
drachms  and  a  half  were  dissolved. 

"  From  half  an  hour  past  two  o'clock  until  six  I 
frequently  changed  the  position  of  the  tumblers, 
making  one  take  the  place  of  the  other.  At  six,  the 
temperature  of  the  sea  water  was  thirty-six,  that  of 
the  fresh  water  was  thirty-seven  and  a  half  In  the 
manner  already  mentioned,  the  ice  was  at  this  time 
weighed  and  replaced.  Of  the  ice  in  sea  water 
Ihree  cfunces  and  four  drachms  were  dissolved ;  of 
that  in  fresh  water,  only  two  ounces  and  eight 
drachms. 

"  It  is  observable,  that  the  sea  water  was  a  degree 
and  a  half  colder,  ever  since  the  immersion  of  the 
ice,  than  the  fresh  water,  acted  on  by  the  like  mass 
of  ice,  and  placed  in  the  like  circumstances ;  and 
nevertheless  the  ice  was  dissolved  much  quicker  in 


148  ON  APPROACHING 

the  colder  sea  water.  The  quicker  solution  of  the 
ice  in  sea  water  was  evidently  the  cause  of  the 
greater  degree  of  cold  preserved  in  it  during  four 
hours ;  and  it  already  appeared,  that  salt  water  is  a 
more  powerful  solvent  of  ice  than  fresh  water  in  the 
like  temperature.  And,  agreeable  to  Mr.  Barring- 
ton's  suggestion,  the  matter  which  impedes  the  con- 
gelation of  water  must  of  course  facilitate  the  thaw- 
ing of  ice.  The  nitrous  acid  furnishes  us  with 
another  striking  instance  to  this  effect ;  for  no  cold 
can  be  produced  to  freeze  the  water  in  it ;  and  a  red 
hot  ladle  cannot  thaw  ice  placed  in  it,  so  quickly  as 
ice  is  thawed  by  nitrous  acid. 

"  At  ten  o'clock,  or  in  eight  hours  after  the  pieces 
of  ice  were  first  placed  in  the  sea  and  Thames  water, 
the  temperature  of  the  sea  water  was  thirty-nine, 
that  of  the  Thames  water  only  thirty-eight.  At  this 
time,  of  the  ice  in  sea  water  four  ounces  eight 
drachms  w«re  dissolved  ;  of  the  ice  in  Thames  water, 
four  ounces  only  were  dissolved.  The  sea  water 
being  at  this  period  warmer  than  the  Thames  water, 
corresponds  with  the  small  portion  of  ice  remaining 
in  it,  compared  with  that  remaining  in  the  fresh 
water.  The  temperature  of  the  room  in  the  place 
where  the  tumblers  stood,  being,  by  reason'  of  the 
fire  kept  constantly  in  it,  forty-four  or  forty-five,  for 
the  last  six  hours. 

"  In  twelve  hours,  or  at  two  oVlock  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  temperature  of  the  room  near  the  vessels  of 
water  being  nearly  the  same  as  formerly  described, 
the  temperature  of  the  sea  water  was  forty,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  fresh  water  was  thirty-nine.    Four 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  149 

ounces  fifteen  drachms  of  the  ice  in  salt  water  were 
dissolved,  only  one  drachm  remaining;  four  ounces 
ten  drachms  of  the  ice  in  fresh  water  were  dissolved, 
only  six  drachms  remaining. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  hour,  after  the  im- 
mersion of  the  masses  of  ice  in  the  fresh  and  in  the  salt 
water,  that  is,  at  three  in  the  morning,  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  room  was  forty-five  near  the  place  where 
the  tumblers  stood.  The  temperature  of  the  open  air 
was  thirty-one.  The  ice  in  the  sea  water  was  melted. 
The  quantity  of  ice  remaining  in  the  fresh  water  was 
one  drachm,  wliich,  in  fifteen  minutes  more,  was 
entirely  melted. 

"  At  this  period,  when  the  ice  in  the  fresh  water 
was  melted,  that  is,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  past  three, 
the  mercury  stood  at  forty  in  the  fresh  water,  in  the 
salt  water  it  stood  at  forty-one.  In  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  after  this,  the  mercury  stood  at  forty-two  in  the 
salt  water,  and  at  forty-one  in  the  fresh  water.  In  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  more,  the  temperature  remained 
unalterable  in  the  salt  and  fresh  water,  although  the 
temperature  of  the  air  between  and  near  the  vessels 
was  forty-five,  and  the  vessel  on  the  right  was  placed 
on  the  left,  and  replaced  several  times.  And  both 
vessels  were  at  all  times  equidistant  fom  the  wain- 
scot, which  was  perfectly  close,  as  were  the  boards 
of  the  floor  also. 

"  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  more,  the  temperature  of 
the  air  near  and  between  the  tumblers  remained 
forty -five ;  the  temperature  of  the  fresh  water  was 
scarcely  forty-two ;  the  temperature  of  the  salt  water 
was  forty-two  and  a  half. 


150  ON  APPROACHING 

"  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  more,  the  temperature  of 
the  air  between  the  tumblers  being  forty-four  and  a 
half,  the  temperature  of  the  salt  water  was  forty- 
three  ;  the  temperature  of  the  fresh  w  ater  was  some- 
what more  than  forty-two.  It  was  now  past  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  on  Monday  the  22d  of 
January.  I  went  to  bed,  leaving  the  tumblers  in  the 
position  described. 

'"It  was  observed,  during  the  foregoing  and  other 
experiments,  and  it  is  visible,  from  the  experiments 
related,  that  fire,  in  diffusing  itself  from  warm  bodies 
to  contiguous  cold  bodies,  proceeds  slowly ;  that  cold 
bodies  do  not  acquire  the  temperature  of  the  warmer 
medium  in  which  they  are  immersed  so  soon  as  is 
commonly  imagined,  but,  on  the  contrary,  require  a 
considerable  time  for  that  purpose ;  and  this  time  is 
directly  as  the  diameter  of  the  cold  body. 

"  It  was  inferred  from  these  experiments,  that  a 
temperate  body,  like  water,  placed  in  a  cold  medium, 
as  in  air,  cooled  to  thirty  or  thirty-one  of  Fahrenheit, 
requires  many  hours  before  it  acquires  the  tempera- 
tin-e  of  the  surrounding  medium,  and  before  a  conge- 
lation commences ;  and  that  the  time  necessary  for 
the  commencement  of  the  congelation  is  directly  as 
the  mass  and  shortest  diameter  of  the  water,  and  the 
progress  of  the  congelation  is  inversely  as  the  depth 
©f  the  water. 

''•  It  was  also  observed,  that  as  much  of  a  given 
mass  of  water  was  frozen  in  five  hours  in  a  tempera- 
ture of  twelve  degrees  below  the  freezing  point,  as 
was  frozen  in  one  hour  in  a  temperature,  fifty  degrees 


THE  NORTH  POLK.  151 

below  the  freezing  point ;  and  that  long  duration  of 
the  temperature  between  twenty  and  thirty-two  is, 
towards  the  congelation  of  water,  equivalent  to  inten- 
sity of  cold,  such  as  is  marked  0,  and  below  0,  in 
Fahrenheit,  but  of  short  duration. 

"  It  was  moreover  observed,  that  water  in  thick 
jars  covered  was  not  frozen,  when  water  in  open 
vessels  was  frozen ;  that  water  included  in  massive 
vessels  of  wood,  or  surrounded  by  any  matter  except 
water,  to  some  thickness,  preserved  its  temperature, 
and  resisted  congelation,  longer  than  the  like  quan- 
tity of  water  exposed  to  the  cold  air;  and  that  water 
in  thick  vessels  was  not  frozen  so  soon  as  a  like 
quantity  of  water  in  thin  vessels  of  like  matter,  figure, 
and  capacity.  It  was  thence  inferred,  that  fire  does 
not  so  quickly  pervade  thick  bodies  as  it  does  thin 
bodies;  and  that  fire  pervades  water  more  freely 
than  it  does  solid  bodies,  and  sooner  diffuses  itself 
from  water  to  air,  than  from  any  other  body  contain- 
ing water  to  air. 

"  Thence  it  followed,  that  in  reasoning  on  the  phe- 
liomena  of  congelation,  the  masses  of  water,  the 
duration  of  cold  temperature  in  the  atmosphere,  and 
the  masses  of  other  matter  surrounding  water,  arc  to 
be  considered.  Deep  rivers  and  lakes  do  not  freeze 
so  soon  as  shallow  rivers  and  lakes.  Larse  bodies 
of  water  are  never  frozen  in  any  temperature  of 
short  duration ;  but  shallow  waters  are  often  frozen 
in  the  summer. 

"It  need  not  be  presumed,  that  certain  lakes 
which  are  never  frozen,  communicate  with  subterra- 
neous fires,  or  hot  mineral  streams;  or  that  thev  are 


152  ON  APPROACHING 

impregnated  with  matter  which  impedes  congelation: 
but  it  is  rather  to  be  presumed,  that  as  fire  slowly 
pervades,  enters,  or  quits  bodies,  the  time  necessary 
for  its  diffusing  itself  from  deep  lakes  to  the  cold 
atmosphere  is  greater  than  ever  such  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere  continues  without  intermission  below 
the  freezing  point. 

"  By  the  like  reasoning  applied  to  masses  of  earth 
and  other  matter,  which  are  not  so  quickly  pervaded 
by  fire  as  water  is,  we  can  conceive  why  deep  wells 
and  springs  at  or  near  their  issuing  from  the  earth 
are  not  frozen  in  this  climate,  even  when  navigable 
rivers  are  ice-bound.  We  also  understand  why  the 
main  pipes,  buried  in  our  streets,  retain  the  water 
fluid,  when  the  pipes  leading  from  these  to  the 
houses,  and  crossing  the  area  of  each  house,  are 
choked  with  ice ;  and  why  hay  bands  twisted  round 
these  small  pipes  prevent  the  freezing,  &c. 

"  On  these  grounds  it  is  presumed,  that  no  consider- 
able congelation  ever  takes  place  in  the  sea,  because 
this  is  the  greatest  and  deepest  mass  of  water  we 
know  of;  because  it  is  always  in  motion,  and  commu- 
nicates with  the  water  of  temperate  climates ;  because 
sea  water  is  not  so  easily  frozen  as  fresh  water; 
because  the  ice  found  in  the  sea  is  solid,  and  in 
transparency  not  different  from  the  ice  of  fresh  water; 
and,  lastly,  because  this  floating  ice,  which  is  met 
with  by  navigators,  both  in  high  Northern  and  South- 
ern latitudes,  when  melted,  is  palatable  to  the  taste ; 
whereas  the  ice  formed  from  sea  water  is  very  saline, 
if  it  be  thawed  without  having  been  washed  in  fresh 
water. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  153 

"  It  *is  also  presumed,  that  in  the  deep  Northern 
seas  the  water  near  the  surface  will  be  found  warmer 
than  that  near  the  bottom  at  the  approach  of  sum- 
mer ;  and  will  be  found  colder  near  the  surface  than 
at  the  bottom  in  the  first  month  of  the  cold  season, 
for  the  reasons  already  expressed :  and  in  like  man- 
ner, that,  during  the  first  six  or  eight  hours  of  a  frost 
in  England,  the  water  in  any  deep  lake  will  be  found 
colder  near  the  surface  than  at  the  bottom,  but  that 
the  water  at  the  bottom  will  be  found  colder  than 
that  near  the  surface  in  twenty-four  hours  after  a 
thaw,  provided  the  air  be  temperate,  or  nearly  so." 

It  having  been  proved,  from  what  hath  been  already 
urged,  as  well  as  by  the  preceding  experiments  of 
Dr.  Higgins,  that  the  floating  ice,  which  is  observed 
both  in  high  Southern  and  Northern  latitudes,  cannot 
be  probably  formed  from  sea  water,  it  may  be  thought 
incumbent  upon  me  to  show  how  such  quantities  can 
be  supplied  from  springs,  rain,  or  frozen  snow. 

The  rivers,  which  are  always  found  at  certain 
intervals  in  any  large  tract  of  land,  undoubtedly  sup- 
ply considerable  part  of  such  ice ;  but  there  are  not 
wanting  other  sources  from  which  these  floating 
masses  may  be  produced. 

The  larger  and  higher  ice  islands*  I  conceive  to 
be   chiefly  formed  on  shore,   after  which  they  arc 

*  Mr.  Wales  olieerves,  that  in  the  islands  of  ice,  near  Gcorsia 
Auptralis  and  Sandwich  Land,  there  are  strata  of  dirty  ice,  %vhich 
irrefragably  proves  their  having  been  formed  on  the  land. — Remarks 
tm  Dr.  Forster's  Account,  &c.  8vo.  London,  1778,  p.  106. 

With  regard  to  the  formation  of  ice  islands,  see  likewise  Captain 
Took'?  Voyage,  vol.  ii.  p.  213  and  ?10;  Mho  mnceives  them  to 

20 


154 


ON  APPROACHING 


undermined  by  the  rills  and  melted  9no\\-,  cfu'ring  the 
summer,  of  whieh  we  have  an  accurate  account 
in  the  late  voyage  towards  the  North  Pole.* 

arise  from  congealed  snow  and  sleet  in  the  valley's.  Captain  Cook 
also  supposes,  that  the  ice  cliffs,  at  the  end  of  these  valleys,  often 
project  a  great  way  into  the  sea,  when  they  are  sheltered  from  the 
violence  of  the  Avind,  p.  242. 

*  "  Large  pieces  frequently  break  oflf  from  the  ice-bergs,  and 
ftUl  with  great  noise  into  the  water  :  we  observed  one  piece  which 
had  floated  out  ir)to  the  bay,  and  grounded  in  twenty-four  flUhoms  ;  it 
AViis  fifty  feet  high  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  of  the  same 
beautiful  colour  as  the  ice-berg."  p.  70. 

I  have  likewise  been  favoured  with  the  following  account  of  ice- 
islands  on  the  coast  of  Labrador,  from  Lieutenant  John  Cartwright, 
of  the  Royal  Navy,  to  whom  I  have  not  only  this  obligation. — See 
the  Probability  of  reaching  the  North  Pole,  p.  8. 

"  Dear  Sir,  "  Thursday,  Feb.  28,  1776. 

"  In  conformity  with  my  promise  of  yesterday,  I  now  send  you. 
as  nearly  as  I  can  recollect,  my  brother's  account  (who  hath  resided 
four  years  on  the  Labrador  coast)  of  the  formation  of  those  great 
masses  of  frozen  snow,  seen  annually  in  very  great  numbers  on  the 
Northern  coast  of  America,  and  by  mariners  usually  called  Islands 
of  ice. 

"  Along  the  coast  of  Labrador,  the  sea,  in  winter,  is  frozen  to  a 
great  distance  from  the  land.  The  Northwest  is  the  prevailing  and 
coldest  wind.  The  snow,  carried  by  this  or  any  other  Westerly 
winds  over  the  clilfs  of  the  coast,  falls  becalmed  upon  the  ice  at  the 
foot  of  the  said  cliffs,  drifting  up  to  the  very  tops  of  them,  although, 
many  of  them  arc  not  inferior  to  that  of  Dover,  or  those  about  Lul- 
worth.  The  current  of  the  strong  V/estern  winds  having  passed 
these  precipices,  takes  its  course  downwards  into  the  undisturbed 
air  below  ;  but  it  is  not  until  it  arrives  at  some  distance  from  the  land, 
that  it  can  be  felt  on  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Having  the  frozen  sur- 
face of  the  sea  for  abase,  and  the  precipice  for  a  perpendicular,  an 
hypothenuse  is  made  by  the  descending  direction  of  the  wind.  The 
inclosed  triangle,  be  the  cliffs  ever  so  high,  will  be  filled  with  snow  ; 
because  the   top^i   of  the  adjoining   ^ills  being  quite  naked,  are 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  155 

Others,  which  happen  to  have  projected  over  the 
sea,  may  have  had  their  foundations  so  sapped  by 
the  waves  during  a  storm,*  as  to  have  lost  their  sup- 
entirely  swept  clear  of  snow  by  the  violence  of  the  storm?,  and  what 
would  otherwise  have  lain  there  is  carried  to  the  leeward  of  tlie 
hills,  and  under  the  shelter  of  the  cliffy,  where  it  is  deposited  in 
infinitely  greater  quantities  than  it  would  fall  in  without  such  a 
cause.  The  hypothenuse  of  such  triangle  is  frequently  of  such  a 
slope  as  that  a  man  may  walk  up  or  down  without  difficult}'.  By 
frequent  thaw*,  and  the  occasional  fill  of  moisture  interrupting  the 
frost,  during  the  first  parts  of  the  winter,  the  snow  will,  in  some  small 
degree,  dissolve,  by  which  means  it  only  acquires  a  greater  hardness 
when  the  frost  returns  ;  and  during  the  course  of  that  rigorous  sea- 
son it  generally  becomes  a  very  compact  body  of  snow  ice.  In  the 
spring  of  the  year  the  icy  base  gives  way,  and  its  burden  plunges 
into  the  sea,  sometimes  entire,  sometimes  in  many  fragments.  As 
the  depth  of  water  in  many  parts  is  forty,  fifty,  one  liundred  fathoms, 
and  upwards,  close  to  the  shore,  these  bodies  of  ice,  vast  as  is  their 
bulk,  will  frequently  float  without  any  diminution  of  their  contents, 
although  the  very  large  ones  do  often  take  the  ground,  and  sometimes 
are  not  sufficiently  reduced  by  either  the  penetration  of  the  sea  and 
the  rain  water,  or  of  a  whole  summer's  sun,  to  get  at  hberty  again 
before  another  winter. 

"  The  above  relation,  which  my  brother  gives  from  his  own  ob- 
servation, in  North  latitude  52"  15',  accounts  very  naturally  and 
easily  for  the  formation  of  that  surprising  number  of  the  vast  pieces 
of  ice  which  is  annually  seen  on  the  Labrador  coast,  and  considerably 
to  the  Southward. 

"  John  Cartwright." 

*  "  The  sea  has  washed  underneath  the  ice  cliffs,  as  high  as  the 
Kentish  Forelands,  and  the  arches  overhanging,  support  mountains 
of  snow,  which  have  lain  since  the  creation." — Wood's  Voyage, 
p.  20. 

"  Cuncta  gelu,  cannque  npternDm  grandine  tecta, 
Atque  aevi  glaciem  cohibent,  riget  ardua  montis 
.^-^therii  facics,  siirgcntique  obvia  Phoobo, 
Duratas  nesoit  fiamini-  nioUire  pruinas." 

Silius  Italicus,  lib.  iii.  1,  480. 


156  ON  ArPROACHING 

port ;  whilst  others  again  may  have  been  reft  from 
the  mass  to  which  they  before  adhered  by  the  expan- 
sive power  of  the  frost.  * 

Great  part  of  the  field,  or  lower  ice,  I  take  to  be 
formed  by  the  snow  falling  on  the  sands  left  bare  for 
six  hours  (from  half  ebb  to  half  flood)  w  hich  imme- 
diately dissolves  upon  touching  the  sands,  and,  before 
the  tide  returns,  becomes  solid  ice ;  part  of  these 
pieces  are  by  the  wind,  or  tide,  again  returned  to  the 
same  sands,  where  they  again  meet  with  another 
store  of  ice,  formed  during  another  six  hours,  which, 
in  the  course  of  a  winter,  must,  by  packing,  accumu- 
late to  immense  masses.  That  this  is  not  mere  con- 
jecture, but  the  fact,  I  appeal  to  Captain  James's 
account  of  what  he  himself  was  witness  of  whilst  he 
wintered  at  Charlton  Island,  in  Hudson's  Bay.f 

Now,  if  we  examine  a  globe,  we  shall  find,  that 
fi'om  sixty  to  seventy  degrees  of  Northern  latitude 
more  than  half  its  circumference  is  land,  which  is 
open  to  a  Northern  Sea,  from  which  large  tract  of 
coast  much  greater  quantities  of  floating  ice  may  be 
derived  than  have  ever  been  met  with  by  navigators, 
without  being  obliged  to  suppose  that  any  part  of  it 
is  formed  from  sea  water. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that  our  late  enterprising  navi- 
gators to  the  Southward  have  also  met  with  as  great 

*  "  The  rocks  along  Ihe  roast  burst  with  a  report  equal  to  that  of 
artillery,  and  the  splinters  are  thrown  to  an  amazing  distance."  Mr. 
Wales,  in  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  Ix.  p.  125. 

t  For  Captain  James's  accoimt,  see  Boyle,  vol.  ii.  ;  as  also  Har- 
ris, vol.  ii.  p.  420.  where  it  is  considerably  abridged,  and  differs  in 
some  few  circumstances.  It  is  stated,  however,  that  in  few  hours 
the  snow  thus  frozen  will  be  five  or  six  feet  thick. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  157 

a  quantity  of  ice  in  the  opposite  hemisphere,  without 
scarcely  discovering  any  land. 

To  this  I  answer,  that  their  circumnavigation  was, 
at  a  medium,  about  57°  degrees  of  Southern  latitude, 
though  they  made  pushes  greatly  to  the  Southward 
in  three  points,  and  in  one  of  these  to  71°  10'.  In 
the  other  instances,  as  far  as  67°  and  67°  30'. 

There  is  consequently  a  very  large  space  in  which 
there  may  be  many  a  frozen  region,  which  they  have 
not  had  any  opportunity  of  discovering.  If,  for  exam- 
ple, a  navigator  from  the  Southern  was  sent  upon 
discoveries  to  the  Northern  hemisphere,  and  Europe, 
as  well  as  Asia  and  North  America,  having  been  sunk 
by  eartliquakes,  was  to  report  that  he  had  circum- 
navigated at  55°  North  latitude  at  a  medium ;  made 
pushes  even  to  71°  in  difierent  directions,  without 
seeing  a>iy  continent ;  and  that  therefore  there  was 
no  land  to  the  North  of  r^b"^  his  countrymen  would 
be  much  deceived  by  such  report,  because  Den- 
mark, Norway,  Sweden,  Muscovy,  Tartarian  Asia, 
and  part  of  North  America,  continued  in  their 
present  situation. 

Besides,  however,  the  ice  which  may  come  from 
Terra  del  Fuego^  Captain  Cook  hath  discovered  two 
frozen  islands  between  Cape  Horn  and  that  of  Good 
Hope,   which   were   covered  with   ice   and   snow.* 

*  Hence  whatever  land  is  discovered  to  the  South  of  this  latitude 
must  produce  ice.  There  is  also  a  large  tract  of  land,  named  in 
some  maps  the  Gulf  of  St.  Sehasticm,  which  is  not  for  distant  from 
Georgia  Australis,  and  which  possibly  may  have  escaped  Captain 
Cook.  This  great  navigator  also  conceives,  that  the  ice  floats  from 
70"  South,  and  is   detached  by  accidents  from  land  lying  to  the 


158  ON  APPROACHING 

The  first  of  these,  situate  in  54%  is  called  Georgia 
^^ustmlis ;  and  the  second,  Sandwich  Land^  in  59% 
which  appeared  so  large,  to  some  eyes,  that  it  was 
conceived  to  be  part  of  a  continent* 

It  is  believed  also,  that  no  ship  hath  been  beyond 
48"  to  the  Southward  of  New  Zealand ;  and  from  the 
coldness  of  the  most  Southern  of  these  large  islands, 
I  cannot  but  suspect  that  there  is  a  considerable  tract 
of  land  between  it  and  the  Pole. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  account  how  the  float- 
ing ice  which  is  met  with  may  be  supposed  to  be 
formed  from  snow  or  fresh  water ;  I  cannot  but  risk 
another  conjecture,  that  the  time  of  the  year  at  which 
attempts  are  commonly  made  to  make  discoveries 
towards  the  two  Poles  (though  favourable  in  many 
other  circumstancest)  is  probably  the  season  when 
the  greatest  quantity  of  floating  ice  will  be  observed. 

South  of  that  parallel,  as  the  currents  in  the  Antarctic  seas  always  set 
to  the  North, — Cook's  Voyage,  vol.  i.  p.  268. 

Captain  Furneaux  in  1744,  passed  between  Georgia  Australis  and 
Sandwich  Land  (rather  supposed  a  continent,)  without  seeing  either 
of  these  new  discoveries,  though  the  mountains  on  both  are  remark- 
ably high,  particularly  those  in  Sandwich  Land,  one  of  which,  by 
severed,  was  considered  to  equal  TenerifTe. 

Captain  Furneaux  could  not  have  been  well  more  than  two 
degrees  from  either  of  these  countries. — See  his  Track  in  the  lately 
published  map. 

*  See  Captain  Cook's  Voyage,  vol.  ii.  p.  230  ;  where  he  supposes 
land  near  the  South  Pole,  chiefly  opposite  to  the  Southern  Atlantic, 
and  Indian  Oceans,  as  on  those  meridians  ice  is  found  as  far  North  as 
48".  It  is  in  this  tract  of  Southern  land  that  Cook  supposes  the  ice  to 
be  chiefly  formed,  which  is  met  with  in  the  Southern  Oceans. — Ibid. 

t  Viz.  The  nights  being  shorter,  and  the  rigging  not  being 
so  subject  to  being  frezen. 


THE  NORTH  POLE. 


159 


This  seems  to  follow  as  a  necessary  consequence 
from  the  push  being  never  made  before  midsummer, 
and  often  a  month  later,  wliich  is  precisely  the  time 
when  the  ice  begins  to  break  up  in  the  fresh  water 
rivers,  &c. 

I  have  accordingly  minuted  down,  from  several 
voyages  in  high  Northern  latitudes,  the  day  on  which 
the  navigators  first  mention  seeing  the  floating  ice. 

The  result  of  which  is  as  follows : — 

Sir  Martin  Frobisher  on  the  23d  of  June, — Ilack- 
luyt,  vol.  ii.  p.  77. 

Davis  in  his  first  voyage,  July  19th.  In  his  third, 
July  2d.— Ibid.  p.  99. 

,    Pet  and  Jackman  on  the   13th  of  July. — Ibid.  p. 
447. 

Burrow  on  the  21st  of  July. — Ibid.  p.  277. 

Governor  Ellis,  July  5th. — Voyage  to  discover  th<» 
Northwest  passage,  p.  127. 

"  The  shores  of  Hudson"'s  Bay  have  many  inlets  or 
friths,  which  are  full  of  ice  and  snow,  and  frozen  to 
the  ground.  These  are  broke  loose,  and  launched 
into  the  sea,  by  land  floods,  during  the  months  of 
June,  July,  and  August." — Ibid. 

"  The  first  floating  ice,  which  is  observed  on  the 
coast  of  Labrador  is  a  joyful  presage  to  the  inhabil- 
»ants  of  the  approach  of  summer." — Lieutenant  Cur- 
tis, in  Philosophical  Transactions. 

"The  ice  begins  to  break  up  the  18th  of  June." — 
Danish  account  of  Greenland. —  Voyages  miJS'ord^  vol. 
i.  p.  167. 


160  ON    APPROACHING 

"The  lakes  of  Lapland  continue  frozen  on  June 
the  24th." — Linschoten's  Voyage,  ibid.  vol.  iv. 

"  On  the  5th  of  July,  the  sea  on  two  sides  is  ob- 
served to  be  covered  with  ice." — Ibid.  p.  187. 

Wood  sees  the  first  ice  in  North  latitude  75°  59',  on 
June  22. 

On  the  17th  of  August  vast  pieces  of  floating  ice. — 
Ibid. 

"  In  the  month  of  August  the  French  observe,  on 
the  Labrador  coasts,  mountains  of  ice  as  high  as  the 
ships." — Boyle's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  303. 

"On  June  16th,  a  river  in  Hudson's  Bay  breaks 
up." — Mr.  Wales,  in  Philosophical  Transactions, 
vol.  Ix.  p.  126. 

"  The  mouth  of  the  Lena  is  not  open  till  the  middle 
of  August." — Observations  Geographiques^  par  M.  Engel, 
p.  229. 

With  regard  to  the  ice  which  may  be  observed  in 
Southern  latitudes,  I  shall  only  take  notice,  that  Sir 
Francis  Drake,  Feuillee,  and  Clipperton,  passed 
Cape  Horn,  or  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  during  the 
month  of  December,  without  mentioning  ice,*  from 
which  it  should  seem  that  it  breaks  up  chiefly  during 
the  months  of  January,  February,  and  March,  answer- 
ing to  our  July,  August,  and  September.f 

*  See  Callander's  Voyages  under  these  three  articles. 

t  It  may  possibly  brealc  up  in  some  years  earlier,  perhaps  Ih 
December ;  but  some  time  must  be  allowed  for  its  floating  to  the 
North,  as  far  as  the  latitude  of  Terra  del  Fuego.     From  the  instances 


THE    NORTH    POLE.  1 61 

Three  Dutch  ships,  which  sailed  on  discoveries 
with  Commodore  Roggewein,  1721,  met  with  much 
ice  to  the  South  of  Cape  Horn  in  the  middle  of 
January.  The  Author  of  the  Narrative  afterward 
makes  this  observation :  "  Those  mountains  of  ice, 
which  are  seen  in  the  latitude  of  Cape  Horn,  prove 
that  there  is  land  towards  the  Southern  Pole,  it 
being  certain  that  this  ice  cannot  be  formed  in  the 
ocean,  though  the  cold  is  so  severe."* 

But  it  may,  perhaps,  be  said,  that  the  ice  which 
breaks  up  in  June,  July,  and  August,  or  during  the 
correspondent  months  in  the  opposite  hemisphere, 
may  remain  floating  for  years  without  being  much 
dissolved. 

To  this  I  will  not  take  upon  myself  to  say  that 
some  such  islands,  when  very  large,  may  not  con- 
tinue more  than  a  year;  but  I  should  conceive  this 
not  to  be  very  common.  Storms  and  other  accidents 
must  probably  break  them  into  small  masses  which 
will  quickly  be  thawed ;  as  that  able  geographer  and 
promoter  of  discoveries,  Mr.  Bailiff  Engel,  obser^  es, 
that  if  a  piece  of  ice  is  fastened  by  a  cord  and  let 
down  into  the  sea,  it  is  presently  melted.f 

Mr.  Wales  also  informs  us,  that  he  supposes  most 
of  these  islands  of  ice  are  soon  wasted,  in  the  folio w- 

cited,  it  appears  that  the  earliest  floating  ic#  which  is  seen  in  the 
Northern  hemiijphere  is  not  observed  sooner  than  the  16th  of  June, 
whilst  in  much  the  greater  part  mention  is  not  m-ide  of  it  till  July. 

*  Histoire  de  r Expedition  de  trois  Vaisseaux,  ^c.  Hague,  17,"9, 
p.  81. 

t  See  Observations  Geographiques,  p.  224. 
21 


162  ON  APPROACHING 

ing  words :  "  The  truth  is,  their  motion  and  dissolu- 
tion are  apparently  so  Aery  quick,  that  I  am  of  opin- 
ion it  must  be  a  pretty  large  island  which  is  not 
dissolved  in  one  summer."* 

How  soon  likewise  does  the  ice  disappear,  which 
is  discharged  from  our  own  rivers  into  the  sea,  after 
our  most  intense  frosts  ? 

1  have  omitted  stating  the  degree  of  cold  at  which 
the  sea  water  I  exposed  to  the  air  began  to  be  frozen, 
and  cannot  now  recover  the  memorandum  which  I 
made  at  the  time.  I  am  pretty  confident,  however, 
that  the  mercury  had  sunk  only  to  twenty-seven. 

But  though  congelation  thus  took  place  at  five 
degrees  below  the  freezing  point,  it  is  proper  that 
I  should  state  some  other  circumstances  attending 
the  experiment. 

The  sea  water  which  I  used  came  from  the  North 
Foreland,  which  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and 
consequently,  not  being  the  same  with  that  of  the 
ocean,  was  more  easily  frozen. 

Besides  this,  the  quantity  was  so  small  as  not  to 
cover  a  thin  china  bason  deeper  than  an  inch,  both 
which  particulars  contribute  greatly  to  the  more 
speedy  formation  of  ice ;  it  need  scarcely  be  men- 
tioned also,  that  the  liquid  to  be  frozen  was  in  a 
quiescent  state. 

How  much  a,  considerable  degree  of  motion  im- 
pedes congelation,  may  be  inferred  from  what  may  _ 
be  observed  in  every  river ;  for  as  high  as  the  tide 
hath  any  force,  I  doubt  much  whether  any  ice  is 

*  Philosophical  Transactions,  vol.  Ix.  p.  112. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  16'3 

scarcely  ever  formed  in  the  fair  open  channel,  during 
our  most  intense  frosts.  1  attended  to  the  Thames, 
in  this  respect,  during  the  late  severity  of  the  weather, 
and  it  seemed  to^me  that  all  the  ice  floated  down 
from  the  upper  parts  of  the  river ;  but  packing  after- 
ward between  the  lighters,  occasioned  the  formation 
of  very  large  masses. 

I  have  little  doubt,  from  these  circumstances,  but 
that  the  open  sea,  if  it  be  frozen  at  all,  must  require 
a  much  more  intense  cold  than  twenty-seven ;  allow- 
ing however  any  greater  degree  of  cold  in  the  high 
latitudes,  it  seems  deducible,  from  the  experiments 
of  Dr.  Higgins,  that  sea  water  cannot  be  frozen  into 
a  solid  state,  if  compared  with  that  of  ice  formed 
from  the  water  of  rivers;  nor  will  such  ice  when 
melted  become  palatable,  unless  it  hath  been  pre- 
viously washed  in  fresh  water. 

Hence  it  seems  almost  to  be  demonstration,  that 
the  floating  ice  met  with  by  navigators,  being  both 
solid  and  sweet  to  the  taste  after  dissolution,  cannot 
be  produced  from  the  water  of  the  ocean.* 

I  will  venture  also  to  insist,  that  if  such  ice  was 
actually  frozen  from  the  ocean,  it  must  very  quickly 
be  melted,  because,  as  it  must  consist  of  detached 
lamina;  intercepting  the  brine,  the  sea  would  soon 
insiimate  itself  between  the  interstices,  so  as  to  cause 
its  dissolution.  If  any  ice,  therefore,  should  be  form- 
ed in  those  parts  of  bays  which  are  land  locked, 

*  The  ice  taken  up  by  Captaia  Cook,  during  his  circumnavigation 
in  high  Southern  latitudes,  was  sohd  and  transparent :  being  placed 
also  on  the  deck  for  the  salt  water  to  drain  off,  the  ice  became  whole- 
some and  palatable  water. 


164  ON  APPROACHING  THE  NORTH  POLE. 

have  little  or  no  tide,  and  receive  considerable 
quantities  of  fresh  water,  when  such  ice  is  wafted 
fairly  out  to  sea,  I  should  conceive  that  it  must  dis- 
appear in  a  very  short  time.  * 


APPENDIX. 

— -tt^^^' — 

PAPERS 

ON 

APPROACHING  THE  NORTH  POLE 

AND  ON 

A  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE. 

RY 

COLONEL  BEAUFOY,  F.R.S. 


The  Papers  are  extracted  from  Thomson's  Annuls  of  Philosophy,  by  permission 
of  Colonel  Bcaufoy. 


APPENDIX. 
QUERIES 

RESPECTING 

THE    PROBABILITY    OF    REACHING, 

FROM 

The  Island  of  Spitzbergen,  the  J^orth  Pole, 

BY    MEANS    OF 

REIN-DEER,  DURING  THE  WINTER  ; 

AND 

ANSWERED 

BY 

PERSONS  WHO  WIJ^TERED  THERE. 


ISOME  years  past  I  was  impressed  with  the  idea  of 
the  possibility  of  reaching  the  North  Pole  from  Spitz- 
bergen,  during  the  winter,  by  travelling  over  the  ice 
and  snow  in  sledges  drawn  by  rein-deer.  There- 
fore, with  the  view  of  determining  how  far  this  plan 
was  practicable,  I  sent  several  Queries,  and  re- 
quested Answers  to  them  from  Russians,  who  were 
at  that  time  living  at  Archangel,  and  had  wintered 
in  those  remote  islands.  Those  Queries,  together 
with  the  Answers,  are  as  follow,  as  I  learn  from  con- 


168  ON  APPROACHING 

versation  that  the  practicability  of  such  a  journey, 
conducted  in  a  similar  manner,  is  entertained  by 
well-informed  persons ;  and,  before  a  plan  is  put  in 
execution,  it  is  desirable  to  know  what  has  been 
previously  done  on  the  same  subject.  The  31st  and 
33d  seem  contradictory,  probably  from  some  error  in 
translating  the  Questions  into  Russ,  or  the  Answers 
into  English. 

1.  Query.  How  many  settlements  have  the  Rus- 
sians on  the  island  of  Spitzbergen,  and  which  is  the 
most  Northerly  ? 

Answer.  There  are  neither  settlements  nor  fixed 
inhabitants  in  Spitzbergen,  except  those  fishermen 
who  go  there  in  quest  of  fish,  and  likewise  of  those 
animals  from  Megen,  Archangel,  Onega,  Rala,  and 
other  places  bordering  the  White  Sea,  in  vessels 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons.  They  sail 
from  the  above-mentioned  places,  those  for  the  sum- 
mer fishery  in  the  beginning  of  June,  and  those  for 
the  winter  in  June  and  July.  They  arrive  on  the 
West  side  of  Spitzbergen,  and  commonly  return 
home,  the  former  some  year  in  September,  and  the 
latter  the  next  year  in  August  and  September.  They 
winter  in  the  Gulfs  of  Devil  Bay,  Clock  Bay,  Ring 
Bay,  Crus  Bay,  German  Island,  Magdalene  Bay,  and 
to  the  Northward  in  Liefde  Bay,  and  others.  The 
farthest  North  our  fishermen  ever  have  sailed  to  is 
Liefde  Bay,  and  from  thence  in  small  boats  as  far 
as  Nordoster  Island. 

2.  Q.  At  what  time  of  the  year  does  the  winter 
commence  ? 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  169 

A.  The  winter  generally  sets  in  about  the  latter 
end  of  September  and  beginning  of  October. 

3.  Q.  Is  it  ushered  in  by  storms  ?  and  is  any  one 
wind  particularly  productive  of  them  ? 

A.  The  winter  sometimes  sets  in  with  winds  from 
the  North,  North  Northwest,  and  Northwest;  and 
sometimes  commences  with  calm  weather,  hard  frosts 
accompanied  with  snow. 

4.  Q.  Is  the  weather,  generally  speaking,  calm  in 
winter,  or  are  the  winds  high  ? 

A.  The  winds  are  very  high  and  frequent ;  so 
that  two-thirds  of  the  winter  may  be  said  to  be 
boisterous. 

5.  Q.  What  quantity  of  snow  do  you  suppose  falls 
annually  ;  that  is,  to  what  depth  on  the  ground  ? 

A.  On  even  places  the  snow  is  from  three  to  five 
feet  deep  ;  but  the  winds  drive  it  from  place  to  place, 
so  as  sometimes  to  render  all  passage  impracticable ; 
and  on  the  coasts  between  the  hills  there  are  moun- 
tains of  ice,  occasioned  by  the  pressure  of  the  waters 
and  drift  of  snow. 

6.  Q.  Are  the  storms  of  snow  frequent,  and  of 
long;  duration  ? 

A.  The  storms  of  snow  are  very  frequent,  con- 
tinuing for  two,  three,  and  four  days,  and  sometimes 
for  as  many  weeks ;  but  the  latter  do  not  occur 
above  once  or  twice  in  a  year. 

7.  Q.  Is  the  cold  much  more  severe  at  Spitzber- 
$ren  than  at  Archangel  ?  Has  the  des-ree  ever  been 
ascertained  bv  the  thermometer?  If  it  has,  what 
was  it  ? 

22 


170  ON  APPROACHING 

A.  From  the  fishermen's  remarks,  the  cold  is 
more  severe  at  Spitzbergen  than  at  Archangel ;  but 
the  degree  is  not  known,  as  the  people  who  go  there 
have  no  thermometers. 

8.  Q.  Is  the  cold  ever  so  intense  as  to  render 
going  abroad  dangerous  ? 

A.  The  cold  is  never  so  severe  as  to  hinder 
the  fishermen,  they  being  accustomed  to  it,  from 
exposing  themselves ;  but  sometimes  the  winds  and 
drifts  of  snow  confine  them  to  their  huts. 

9.  Q.  Admitting  it  to  be  so,  by  what  exercise  do 
the  Russians  keep  off  the  scurvy  ? 

A.  When  the  last-mentioned  weather  is  an  ob- 
stacle to  their  leaving  their  huts,  they  keep  off  the 
scurvy  by  the  exercise  of  throwing  the  snow  from  off 
and  around  their  huts,  which  from  stormy  weather 
are  often  buried ;  and  in  order  to  get  out,  they  are 
then  obliged  to  make  a  passage  through  the  roof. 
They  likewise  oppose  the  distemper  by  making  use 
of  a  particular  sallad  or  herb,  which  grows  there  on 
stones,  and  with  which  they  generally  provide  them- 
selves in  due  time  against  winter;  but  sometimes, 
from  necessity,  they  are  obliged  to  dig  through  the 
snow  for  it.  Some  of  it  they  eat  without  any  pre- 
paration; and  a  part  they  scald  with  water,  and 
drink  the  liquid.  They  also  carry  with  them  for  the 
same  purpose,  as  a  preventative,  a  raspberry,  called 
in  Russia  moroshka,  wliich  they  preserve  by  baking 
with  rye  flour,  which  they  eat ;  and  when  pressed, 
drink  the  juice.  They  also  take  fir  tops  with  them, 
which  they  boil;  and  the  water  they  drink  as  an 
antidote  likewise  against  the  scurvy. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  l7l 

10.  Q.     In  what  manner  are  the  huts  construcled  ? 
A.     The  huts  the  people   use,  they  always  lake 

with  them  in  their  vessels,  and  on  their  arrival  there 
put  them  together.  They  are  constructed  of  thin 
boards,  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  peasants' 
houses  here.  They  likewise  generally  taJke  bricks 
with  them  for  building  their  stoves ;  but  when  they  fall 
short,  clay  found  there  is  made  use  of  in  their  stead. 
Their  largest  hut,  which  is  erected  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  their  vessels,  boats,  &c.,  is  from  twenty  to 
twenty-j[ive  feet  square,  and  serves  as  a  station  and 
magazine ;  but  those  huts  the  men  erect  who  go  in 
quest  of  skins  are  only  from  seven  to  eight  feet 
square,  and  in  the  autumn  are  carried  along  the 
shores  in  boats,  and  put  up  at  distances  from  each 
other  of  ten  to  fifty  Russian  versts.  They  take  the 
necessary  provisions  with  them  for  the  whole  winter 
to  serve  two  or  three  men,  as  many  generally  occupy- 
ing each  hut. 

11.  Q.  What  fuel  have  they,  and  in  what  manner 
are  their  huts  heated  ? 

A.  The  fuel  commonly  used  for  heating  their  huts 
is  wood,  which  they  likewise  bring  with  them  in  their 
vessels,  and  land  at  the  station  hut.  In  autmnn  the 
necessary  quantity  for  heating  the  aforesaid  small 
huts  is  conveyed  in  boats,  or  on  small  hand  sledges, 
to  the  destined  places.  They  often  meet  with  wood 
there  too,  thrown  by  the  sea  on  the  shores. 

12.  Q.  On  what  kinds  of  provisions  do  the  Rus- 
sians subsist  during  the  winter  ? 

A.  The  provisions  they  subsist  on  during  the  win- 
ter consist  in  rye  flour  (of  which  they  make  bread,) 


172  ON  APPROACHING 

salt  beef,  salt  cod,  and  salted  halibut,  butter,  oat 
and  barley  meal,  curdled  milk,  peas,  honey,  linseed 
oil ;  all  which  they  bring  to  Spitzbergen  with  them, 
and  divide  the  same  proportionably  by  weight  to 
each  man.  Their  employers  allow  them  provisions 
for  one  year  and  a  half,  besides  which  the  fishermen 
kill  wild-lion  deer  in  winter,  and  birds  in  summer, 
which  are  experienced  to  be  excellent  food,  and  very 
healthy.     ' 

13.  Q.  Do  they  chiefly  use  spirituous  or  malt 
liquors  ? 

A.  They  chiefly  drink  a  liquor  called  tmas,  made 
from  rye  flour  and  water.  Malt  and  spirituous 
liquors  are  entirely  excluded  and  forbidden  by  their 
employers,  to  prevent  drunkenness,  as  the  Russians, 
when  they  had  it,  drank  so  immoderately  that  work 
was  often  neglected  entirely. 

14.  Q.  When  in  the  open  air,  how  do  they  defend 
themselves  ? 

A.  They  defend  themselves  from  the  rigour  of  the 
weather  by  a  covering  made  of  skin,  above  which 
they  wear  another  made  of  the  skin  of  rein-deer, 
called  kushy,  and  wear  boots  of  the  same. 

1 5.  Q.  Do  they  not  use  masks,  and  omit  the  prac- 
tice of  shaving? 

A.  They  use  no  masks,  nor  do  they  shave ;  but  they 
wear  a  large  warm  cap,  called  truechy^  which  covers 
the  whole  head  and  neck,  and  most  part  of  the  face. 
They  also  wear  gloves  of  sheep-skin. 

16.  Q.  Do  the  inhabitants  cross  the  country  dur- 
ing the  winter  } 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  173 

A.  There  are  no  inhabitants,  as  said  before ;  but 
the  fishermen  who  are  there  for  a  time,  do  go  over 
from  one  island  to  the  other  of  small  distances. 

17.  Q.  How  do  they  travel,  at  what  rate,  and  how 
carry  the  necessary  stock  of  provisions  for  their  sub- 
sistence during  the  journey  ? 

A.  They  travel  on  foot ;  that  is,  on  snow  skaits, 
and  draw  their  food  after  them  in  small  hand  sledges ; 
but  those  who  brina;  dosfs  with  them  make  use  of  the 
same.  AVhen  travelling,  snow  is  their  drink.  Horses 
or  rein-deer  would  be  of  no  use  to  them  for  the  con- 
veyance of  their  provisions ;  nor  have  they  any. 

18.  Q.  By  what  means  do  they  procure  water; 
and  is  it  by  melting  snow,  or  do  they  find  springs  ? 

A.  They  use  spring  water  when  it  is  to  be  had. 
often  take  it  from  lakes,  and  from  necessity,  some- 
times dissolve  snow;  but  it  seldom  happens  that  they 
are  in  want  of  fresh  water,  because  they  commonly 
pitch  on  those  places  where  it  is  to  be  mot  with. 

19.  Q.  Is  not  the  ice  so  firmly  consolidated  as  to 
render  all  passage  across  it  from  one  island  to  the 
other  perfectly  safe  during  winter  ? 

A.  The  ice  at  Spitzbergen  is  well  consolidated  : 
and  in  some  places  the  flakes  run  to  a  great  height, 
one  on  another,  which  makes  even  the  passage  on 
foot  very  difficult;  other  places  are  quite  smooth, 
except  those  gulfs  which  run  into  the  land  about 
twenty  versts,  where  the  ice  is  continually  floating 
and  drifting;  but  travelling  with  horses  or  rein-deer 
is  quite  impossible. 

20.  Q.  Is  not  the  ice  rendered  smooth  by  the 
interstices  being  filled  up  with  snow  ? 


174  OW  APPROACHING 

A.  As  before  said,  the  ice  is  made  smooth  by  the 
snow  filling  up  the  inequalities. 

21.  Q.  Does  any  danger  arise  either  in  crossing 
ihe  land  or  the  ice,  from  the  drifting  of  the  snow  ? 

A.  They  do  not  journey  in  winter,  as  beforemen- 
tioned,  except  to  islands  at  trifling  distances ;  and  a 
traveller  is  in  much  danger  if  surprised  by  a  sudden 
gale  of  wind,  accompanied  by  drifts  of  snow ;  he  is 

obliged  to  lie  down,  covering  himself  with  his , 

and  remain  so  secured  till  the  hurricane  is  over ;  but 
when  it  continues  for  any  length  of  time,  the  poor 
wretch  often  perishes. 

22.  Q.     What  degree  of  light  is  there  in  winter.'* 
A.     The  fishermen  do  not  know  what  the  degree 

of  light  may  be  in  winter ;  indeed,  they  are  ignorant  of 
the  meaning  of  the  term :  however,  they  say  that  from 
the  latter  end  of  October  to  the  12th  of  January  the 
sun  does  not  appear  above  the  horizon,  which  causes 
a  continual  darkness,  and  obliges  them  always  to 
keep  a  light  in  their  huts  by  burning  train  oil  in 
lamps ;  but  as  soon  as  the  sun  makes  its  appearance, 
the  days  increase  very  rapidly. 

23.  Q.  What  difference  does  the  absence  of  the 
moon  occasion  ?  Are  the  stars  in  general  brilliant  ? 
Can  you  see  to  read  when  the  moon  is  under  the 
horizon  ? 

A.  From  the  appearance  of  the  moon  in  her 
second  quarter  to  her  decline  in  the  last,  the  nights 
are  very  luminous,  and  the  stars  extraordinarily  light 
both  day  and  night.  In  the  gloom  of  winter  the  peo- 
ple keep  time  from   the  position  of  certain  stars. 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  175 

When  the  moon  is  below  the  horizon,  it  is  impossible 
to  read. 

24.  Q.  Is  the  Aurora  Borealis  very  brilliant ;  and 
in  what  part  of  the  horizon  is  it  seen  ? 

A.  In  the  dark  time  of  winter  the  Aurora  Borealis 
is  commonly  seen  most  strong  in  the  North,  and  ap- 
pears very  red  and  fiery. 

25.  Q.  Does  it  appear  possible  to  cross  the  ice 
in  winter  to  the  North  Pole  ?  If  it  does  not,  what 
are  the  obstacles  ? 

A.  The  likelihood  of  a  passage  to  the  North  Pole 
does  not  seem  probable  to  the  fishermen,  as  they 
have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  attempt  it ;  and,  from 
their  observations,  think  all  passage  impossible,  as 
the  mountains  of  ice  appear  monstrously  large  and 
lofty.  Some  of  the  ice  is  continually  drifting  about ; 
so  that  in  many  places  water  is  discerned.  Those 
who  have  been  on  the  most  elevated  parts  of  Nord- 
oster  Island  declare,  that,  as  far  as  it  is  visible, 
open  water  is  only  seen ;  but  to  what  distance  it 
may  continue  so,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  ascer- 
tain, as  an  attempt  for  the  discovery  has  never 
been  made ;  but  seemingly  it  is  practicable  to  bring 
the  fuel  and  provisions  in  vessels  to  the  Nordoster 
island. 

26.  Q.  If  the  passage  should  be  deemed  practi- 
cable, in  what  manner  should  it  be  attempted ;  and 
what  means  of  conveying  fuel  and  provisions  appear 
to  be  the  best  ? 

A.  As  the  fishermen  think  all  passage  impractica- 
ble, it  is  not  in  their  power  to  give  any  answer  to 
this  demand. 


176  ON  APPROACHING 

27.  Q.  Might  not  three  different  huts,  constructed 
like  those  in  which  the  people  of  Spitzbergen  live, 
together  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  provisions  in 
each  for  half  a  dozen  of  people,  be  conveyed  on 
sledges,  and  be  left  at  the  different  distances  of  two 
hundred,  of  four  hundred,  of  six  hundred  miles, 
North  of  Spitzbergen,  as  places  of  deposit  for  the 
assistance  of  those  who  shall  undertake  the  journey  ? 

A.  Such  huts  might  be  built,  and  placed  on  shore, 
as  said  in  the  tenth  article,  at  a  convenient  distance 
from  their  vessels ;  but  as  for  conveying  them  ready 
built  to  the  distances  proposed  appears  to  the  people 
an  impossibility. 

28.  Q.  What  number  of  persons  and  rein-deer, 
or  of  dogs,  would  be  requisite  for  conveying  the  huts  .'* 

A.  From  the  mountains  of  ice  and  great  falls  of 
snow,  neither  dogs  nor  rein-deer  w  ould  be  able  to 
to  draw  loads ;  for  the  fishermen  themselves,  to  be  as 
light  as  possible,  go  on  snow  skaits. 

29.  Q.  At  what  price  per  man  for  each  day's 
journey  would  the  people  of  Spitzbergen,  if  they 
think  the  adventure  practicable,  be  likely  to  under- 
take the  conduct  of  the  sledges.'* 

A.  As,  in  the  last  reply,  the  fishermen  show  it  is 
not  convenient  there  to  draw  with  dogs  or  rein-deer, 
therefore  no  price  can  be  said. 

30.  Q.  Are  there  any  persons  in  Archangel  who 
have  formerly  resided  in  Spitzbergen  who  would 
engage  in  the  business  ?  and  are  there  any  who  would 
be  willing,  in  company  with  two  Englishmen,  to 
attempt  on  this  plan  a  passage  to  the  North  Pole  ? 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  177 

A.  As  there  are  not,  nor  ever  were,  any  natives 
of  Spitzbergen,  none  therefore  can  be  resident  in 
Archangel :  however,  many  men  may  be  met  with 
here  who  have  wintered  there ;  but  as  they  have 
never  made  an  attempt  to  go  to  the  Pole,  they  cannot 
undertake  the  conduct  of  the  business.  Notwith- 
standing, if  an  Englishman  should  determine  on  the 
endeavour,  some  people  might  be  met  with  who 
would  perhaps,  with  an  English  ship's  company, 
engage  themselves. 

31.  Q.  In  the  spring,  have  flights  of  birds  ever 
been  observed  to  direct  their  course  North  of  Spitz*- 
bergen  ? 

A.  It  has  been  always  experienced  by  those  who 
have  been  at  the  most  northerly  parts  of  Spitzbergen, 
that  in  the  spring  a  great  number  of  wild  geese, 
ducks,  and  other  birds,  take  their  flight  farther  North. 

32.  Q.  What  animals  and  birds  have  they  during 
the  summer,  and  what  species  winter  on  the  island  ? 

A.  In  Spitzbergen  they  have  wild  rein-deer,  white 
and  blue  foxes,  and  white  bears,  which  remain  con- 
tinually on  the  island ;  but  geese,  ducks,  &c.  are 
only  there  in  summer. 

33.  Q.  Those  which  quit  Spitzbergen  on  the 
approach  of  winter,  in  what  month  do  they  generally 
emigrate,  and  to  what  point  of  the  compass  ? 

A.  All  the  before-mentioned  birds  on  the  ap- 
proach of  winter,  that  is,  in  the  lafter  end  of  Sep- 
tember, fly  to  the  Southward,  and  return  again  in  the 
latter  end  of  April. 

N.  B.  The  31st  and  3.3d  Answers  do  not  appa- 
rently agree. 

23 


# 


ON 


THE  NORTHWEST  PASSAGE  5 


THE  INSULAR  FORM  OF  GREENLAND. 

i  HE  reign  of  his  present  Majesty  will  ever  be 
famous  for  the  encouragement  given  to  science ;  but 
in  no  branch  has  the  King's  gracious  patronage  been 
more  conspicuous  than  in  the  discoveries  made  by 
different  circumnavigators,  especially  by  the  immor- 
tal Cook.  Considering  the  inducement  and  encour- 
agement held  out  by  our  monarch  for  exploring  the 
Northern  Parts  of  the  globe,  and  the  number  of  ships 
annually  fitted  out  from  the  different  ports  of  the 
United  Kingdom  for  Davis's  Straits,  Baffin's  Bay, 
and  Spitzbergen;  it  may  appear  very  remarkable 
that  no  new  discoveries  are  made,  or  old  verified,  or 
any  voyage  extended  to  a  higher  latitude  than  81° 
North.  The  King's  wish  of  promoting  discoveries  in 
this  part  of  the  world  is  evident  from  Lord  Mul- 
grave's  expedition,  and  more  especially  from  the  Acts 
of  Parliament  promising  a  reward  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds  to  any  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  who  shall 
Jail  through  any  passage  between  the  Atlantic  and 


180  OiS  APPROACH LNO 

Pacific  Oceans  to  the  Northwards  of  latitude  52^ 
North,  and  also  from  a  reward  of  five  thousand 
pounds  to  any  British  ship  that  shall  approach  within 
one  degree  of  the  North  Pole.  To  what  cause,  then, 
can  be  attributed  the  indifference  and  apathy  of  those 
commanders  of  Greenland  ships  who,  having  been 
unsuccessful  in  the  fishery,  might  be  supposed  to  have 
it  in  their  power  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  outfit 
by  sailing  to  the  West  or  the  North,  with  the  view 
of  claiming  one  of  the  above  rewards  ?  It  cannot  be 
said  with  justice  that  the  masters  of  our  Greenlanders 
are  either  deficient  in  skill,  or  indifferent  to  dis- 
covery; for  among  them,  as  in  other  professions, 
men  are  found  of  superior  talent  and  of  enterprising- 
spirits.  The  paradox  will,  however,  be  solved  by 
referring  to  the  subjoined  oath,*  which  effectually 
excludes  every  conscientious  person  from  endeavour- 
ing to  carry  into  execution  the  scientific  views  of  the 
Legislature  in  passing  what  may,  without  impro- 
priety, be  named  the  Discovery  Act.  When  this 
last  Act  was  passed,  it  is  probable  the  former  Act 

*  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  oath  taken  by  the  master,  and  also 

by  the  owner,  of  Greenland  ships  :  " Master  of  the  ship  

ttiaketh  oath,  that  it  is  really  and  truly  his  firm  purpose,  and  deter- 
mined resolution,  that  the  said  ship  shall,  as  soon  as  license  shall 
be  granted,  forthwith  proceed  so  manned,  furnished,  and  accoutred, 
on  a  voyage  to  the  Greenland  seas,  or  Davis's  Straits,  or  the  seas 
adjacent,  there  in  the  now  approaching  season  to  use  the  utmost 
endeavours  of  himself  and  his  ship's  company  to  take  whales,  or 
other  creatures  living  in  the  seas,  and  on  no  other  design,  or  view 
of  profit,  in  this  present  voyage,  and  to  import  the  whale  fins,  oil, 
and  blubber  thereof,  into  the  port  of  Sworn  at  the  Custom 

•House." 


THE  NORTH  POLE,  IRI 

for  promoting  Northern  discoveries  did  not  occur  to 
the  framers.  I  remember  some  years  past  that  a. 
learned  and  scientific  Member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  so  much  struck  with  the  discouraging 
effect  of  the  oath,  that  it  was  his  intention  to  have 
brought  forward  a  clause  enabling  the  masters  of 
Greenland  ships  to  prosecute  discoveries  as  well  ae 
to  catch  fish ;  and  it  was  owing  to  accident  that  a 
clause  of  the  above  nature  was  not  introduced.  This 
omission,  however,  it  is  hoped,  may  yet  be  supplied 
at  no  distant  period,  and  Greenland  voyages,  con- 
ducted as  they  are  by  seamen  best  qualified  for  such 
an  undertaking,  be  made  subservient  to  the  exploring 
of  the  Northern  regions. 

It  may  farther  be  observed,  navigating  among  the 
ice  being  in  itself  a  science,  men  regularly  brought 
up  to  the  sailing  and  working  of  ships  in  the  Arctic 
Circles  should  be  selected  for  such  service,  in  pre- 
ference to  those  accustomed  to  navigate  the  more 
temperate  parts  of  the  globe.  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  if  at  any  future  period  it  should  be  the  intention 
of  government  to  promote  Northern  discoveries,  it 
would  be  advisable,  both  for  economy  and  the 
greater  probability  of  success,  to  hire  one  of  the 
Greenland  vessels  and  crew,  sending  on  board  as 
many  scientific  and  philosophical  men  as  are  deemed 
requisite.  The  following  statement  was  sent  me 
some  years  past  by  Captain  Brown,  an  able  and 
expert  seaman,  regularly  brought  up  in  the  whale 
fishery,  who  was  willing  to  undertake  the  exploring 
Baffin's  Bay,  or  endeavouring  to  approach  the  North 
Pole.     He  mentioned,  that,  though  in  BaiEn'ip  Bay  he 


182  ON  APPROACHING 

had  frequently  run  to  the  Westward,  he  had  never 
got  sight  of  land  in  that  direction;  which  implies  thp 
Northern  part  of  America  may  be  much  contracted. 
Brow^n,  unfortunately,  was  killed  at  one  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands : — 

^'Jan.  16,  1789. 
*'  SIR, 

"  I  shall  begin  fitting  out  the  first  of  next  month 
for  Davis's  Straits ;  and  should  you  wish  to  explore 
Baffin's  Bay,  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  timely  notice, 
that  I  may  prepare  a  larger  stock  of  provisions,  pro- 
Tide  presents  for  the  Indians,  and  several  other  arti- 
cles which  will  be  necessary  for  that  voyage.  It  will 
be  proper  for  the  bounty  to  be  paid  by  the  Treasury, 
or  the  Custom  House  Oath  altered;  and  I  think, 
when  you  peruse  the  subjoined  account  of  expenses, 
you  will  not  think  my  requisition  of  five  hundred 
pounds  per  month,  for  two  ships,  extravagant.  I  only 
desire  it  to  be  paid  from  the  time  of  leaving  the 
fishery  in  72°  North  till  we  return  to  Cape  Farewell; 
and  no  payment  to  be  made  unless  it  shall  satisfacto- 
rily appear  the  utmost  has  been  done  to  explore  Baf- 
fin's Bay,  Lancaster  Sound,  &c.  The  expense 
government  would  possibly  incur  would  be  very 
trifling;  but  as  underwriters  will  not  ensure  such 
voyages,  the  owners  should  be  indemnified,  and  the 
value  of  the  ships  ascertained  by  the  surveyor  who 
values  the  transports,  against  the  enemy,  and  other 
extra  risks.  1  have  perused  all  the  Northern  voyages, 
and  shall  perfect  myself  in  lunar  observations. 

(Signed) 

"  WILLIAM  BROWN.' 


THE  NORTH  POLE, 


183 


^}p  Butterworth,  three  hundred  and  ninety-two  Totis,*  Boats,  and 
forty-eight  Men. 


1  Master 
I  Surgeon 
1  Chief  Mate  . 
1  Carpenter    . 
1  Carpenter's  Mate 
1  Second  Mate 
1  Boatswain    . 
1  Skim-man     . 
1  Cooper 

7  Harpooners,  at  50s.  each 
1   Cook 

7  Boat  steerers,  at  40s.  each 
7  Line  coilers,  at  32s.  Cd.  each 
1 7  Men,  at  30s.  each 

♦18  Men's  wages 

Men's  provision,  at  30s.  each 

Wear  and  tear,  392  tons,  at  5/.  per  ton 

£268     7     G 
Cabin  allowances,  presents  for  Indians,  extra  liquor,  and  other 
cncouragcment  for  the  people,  cannot  be  estimated  at  less 
than  31/.  12s.  6d.  per  month,  making  a  total  of  300/. 
Brig  Lyon  one-third  less  expense. 

As  experiments  are  making  on  the  length  of  the 
penduhun  in  the  Orkneys,  it  is  highly  desirable  that 
scientific  men  be  sent  for  the  same  object  in  one  of 
the  Greenland  ships  to  Spitzbergen ;  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  fishery  they  might  return  in  the  same 
vessels. 


Per  Month 

£.  *. 

d. 

5  0 

0 

3  10 

0 

3  10 

0 

3  10 

0 

2  10 

0 

2  10 

0 

2  10 

0 

2  10 

0 

2  10 

0 

17  10 

0 

2  0 

0 

14  0 

0 

11  7 

0 

25  10 

0 

98  7 

6 

72  0 

0 

98  0 

0 

*  A  vessel  of  the  above  tonnage  with  a  risirg  floor  is  the  best  adapted  for  thii  ser- 
vice, as  it  La*  a  sufflcieut  iiionieutuin  among  the  loose  ice,  and  is  easily  managed. 


184  ©N  APPROACHINifl 

Every  Greenland  vessel  should  be  furnished  with 
an  artificial  horizon ;  of  which  the  first  and  best  is  a 
shallow  cylinder  of  wood  four  inches  diameter  in  the 
clear,  and  three-tenths  and  a  half  deep,  into  which, 
by  means  of  an  ivory  funnel,  is  poured  quicksilver. 
To  prevent  the  mercury  from  being  ruffled  by  the 
wind,  two  glass  planes  are  placed  over  it,  whose 
surfaces  are  parallel,  and  forming  an  angle  with  each 
other  of  90°;  and  if  this  be  not  sufficient  protection 
when  the  mercury  is  agitated  by  wind,  or  any  heavy 
object  passing  near,  a  circular  piece  of  glass  is 
floated  on  the  quicksilver.  The  second  (invented,  I 
believe,  by  the  late  Mr.  Adams,  of  Edmonton)  is  a 
plane  concave  glass  four  inches  in  diameter,  and 
ground  to  a  long  radius.  It  is  fitted  into  a  metallic 
box,  with  its  concave  side  downwards.  This  box, 
when  wanted,  is  nearly  filled  with  spirits,  leaving  a 
bubble  ;  and  by  means  of  three  screws,  this  bubble  is 
brought  into  the  centre  of  the  glass.  On  one  side  of 
the  box  is  a  small  thumb  screw,  to  be  taken  out  when 
filling,  that  the  air  may  escape.  This  screw  should 
not  be  made  of  iron,  because  it  will  corrode.  If  this 
instrument  be  well  made,  and  pains  taken  in  the 
levelling,  it  may  be  depended  on  to  two  minutes, 
which  gives  an  error  of  one  minute  of  altitude. 
Neither  of  these  artificial  horizons  can  be  used  when 
the  altitude  of  the  object  exceeds  67°. 

It  would  be  extremely  curious  to  ascertain  the 
extent  of  the  variation  of  the  compass  in  Baffin's  Bay. 
Captain  Brown  found  it  to  be  79°  42'  West,  in  lati- 
tude 72°  46'  North ;  (see  the  Annals  of  Philosophy, 
Tol.  vii.  p.  14.)  and  there  being  an  increase  from  Cape 


"^ii 


THE  NORTH  POLE>  185 

Farewell  to  this  latitude,  it  is  not  impossible,  that  in 
higher  latitudes  the  augmentation  may  continue,  until 
the  needle  loses  its  polarity ;  which  extraordinary 
declination  of  the  compass  (peculiar  to  this  part  of 
the  world)  is  so  remarkable,  that,  were  a  vessel  sent 
for  no  other  purpose  than  of  making  magnetical  ob- 
servations, both  the  time  and  money  Avhich  might  be 
bestowed  on  the  expedition  would  be  advantageously 
employed  for  the  advancement  of  science.  The 
variation  of  the  compass  in  latitude  70°  17'  North, 
and  longitude  163°  24'  West,  is  30°  28'  East;  and  in 
latitude  70°  58',  and  longitude  54°  14'  West,  is  74° 
West ;  whence  it  appears,  that  in  nearly  the  same 
parallel  of  latitude,  and  in  a  difference  not  exceed- 
ing 109°  10',  or  about  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-five  geographical  miles  of  longitude, 
there  is  a  difference  in  the  variation  amounting  to 
84°  42'.  It  would  also  be  a  desirable  discovery  to 
ascertain  whether  on  going  to  the  Westward  it  would 
be  found  that  the  variation  gradually  decreases  to 
the  point  of  no  variation,  and  afterward  gradually 
increases ;  or  whether  its  return  be  not  by  a  sudden 
jump  from  West  to  East.  Observations  on  points  of 
this  description,  accompanied  with  remarks  on  the 
depth,  temperature,  and  saltness  of  the  sea,  and  with 
a  meteorological  journal,  would  contain  much  in- 
teresting and  valuable  information,  and  throw  great 
light  on  the  natural  phenomena  of  these  unexplored 
res^ions. 

The  depth  of  the  sea  in  Baffin's  Bay  has  been 
determined  beyond  doubt  by  Brown  to  be  more  than 
a  mile.     It  is  not  unusual   in  April   (the  lime  the 

21 


186  ON  APPROACHING 

Greenland  vessels  arrive  in  Davis's  Straits)  for  Fah- 
renheit's thermometer  to  stand  at  10"  or  22°  below 
freezing. 

Considerable  diversity  of  opinion  prevails  respect- 
ing the  form  of  Greenland,  which  is  conjectured  by 
some  to  bend  to  the  Westward,  and,  joining  the 
continent  of  America,  to  form  the  vast  and  supposed 
gulf  of  Baffin's  Bay;  by  others,  to  be  one  large 
island ;  and  by  a  third  class,  to  be  a  cluster  of  islands 
intersected  by  a  variety  of  channels  running  from  sea 
to  sea,  but  so  blocked  up  with  ice  as  to  render  the 
passage  between  them  impracticable.  In  a  journal 
before  me  it  is  mentioned  that  a  strong  current  sets 
round  Cape  Farewell  to  the  Northwest,  and  that  the 
water  breaks  for  several  miles.  It  appears  probable, 
therefore,  from  this  circumstance,  that  Greenland 
does  not  consist  of  a  multitude  of  islands ;  because 
in  that  case  the  current  would  have  taken  its  direc- 
tion between  them,  instead  of  flowing  round  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  land.  The  junction  of  Greenland  with 
North  America  appears  to  me  to  be  likewise  impro- 
bable, from  the  following  reasons  :  first,  that  Brown 
(as  already  mentioned)  never  saw  the  Western  land ; 
next,  that  Hearn  in  his  travels  arrived  at  the  sea, 
seals  having  been  seen  by  him :  and,  thirdly,  that 
Mackenzie,  whose  travels  lie  to  the  Westward  of 
Hearn's  course,  came  to  the  mouth  of  a  large  river, 
which  also  emptied  itself  into  the  Arctic  Ocean : 
and,  lastly,  from  the  great  probability  that  the  im- 
mense quantity  of  drift  wood  found  in  Baffin's  Bay, 
on  the  Coast  of  Labrador,  and  on  the  Northwest 
Coast  of  America,  has  been  deposited  there  after 


THE  NORTH  POLE.  187 

being  brought  down  by  Mackenzie's  River,  and 
driven  to  the  East  and  West,  and  afterward  South- 
ward, according  to  the  direction  of  the  winds  and 
currents :  all  which  circumstances  combine,  in  my 
opinion,  to  furnish  a  ground  of  belief  that  North,  as 
well  as  South  America,  is  surrounded  by  the  ocean ; 
and  that  the  Northwest  Passage  is  to  be  sought  about 
latitude  72°.  That  Greenland  is  an  island  seems 
also  to  be  highly  probable,  from  the  quantity  of  drift 
wood  found  on  the  Coast  of  Iceland ;  for  it  is  much 
more  natural  to  suppose  that  trunks  of  trees  found 
in  that  part  of  the  world  are  carried  off  from  the 
Northern  extremity  of  America,  and  driven  round 
the  North  of  Greenland,  than  that,  being  floated  from 
the  mouths  of  the  Obi,  Lena,  and  other  great  rivers 
of  Russia,  they  should  pass  Nova  Zembla,  round  the 
North  Cape,  to  the  prodigious  distance  of  20°  West 
longitude. 

Cape  Farewell,  the  Southern  extremity  of  Green- 
land, according  to  the  Requisite  Tables,  is  in  lati- 
tude 59°  38'  00"  North,  and  longitude  42°  42'  00"  West. 
By  observations  in  my  possession,  it  is  in  latitude 
59°  42'  North,  and  longitude  45°  16'  West. 


THE  END. 


